


Run for Your Life

by AwatereJones



Series: Diane's World [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Aliens, Alt Verse, Bigfoot - Freeform, Caves and tunnel systems, F/M, Gen, Graphic Description, Horror, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-07 00:31:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15897258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwatereJones/pseuds/AwatereJones
Summary: So Dibart ... you thought it was just a one-shot eh? Nope ... it was the intro. This is the story of how Diane and Ianto find themselves in a deep hole with little chance of getting out ... but their fighting spirit and desire to see the light again forces them through it. Love ya babe, hope ya like this one. It's got Bigfoot in it! Love my Crumbly Cakes too xxx ALT VERSE!WARNING>>>GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND DEATH SCENES





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dibart](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Dibart).



The sun started to dip low on the horizon, its last rays illuminating the snow flanked sides of the mountain in a golden hue.

"It does look stunning," Diane said, before sipping her bottled water.

"And a little eerie," Madison replied, surveying the high peak through a small set of high-powered binoculars.

"Shouldn't be long now, we'll be through town in no time and turning off. Then it's only about a forty minute drive to the camp site. Hopefully, we can get the tents up before dark," Conner said, as he negotiated a sharp right-hand bend.

"Cool, we'd better, I don't want to be putting up tents in the pitch dark," Madison said.

"No way, screw that!" Diane added.

"We'll get them up, stop worrying," Ianto said, still uncomfortable with this assignment. Not only was he still trying to train Diane, he found himself teamed up with these two … he didn't play well with others you know, not really. But, the Agency made the rules and here they were "Did you guys know that the total population of this place is only about three thousand?"

"Well I'm not surprised. The volcano looks beautiful, but what would you do here? Be as boring as hell after a while," Madison said, pushing her shoulder-length, dark hair behind her ear.

Conner turned off the main street, following a signpost to the mountain road. As he slowed down to take the bend, they passed a gun store. Displayed outside were various stuffed animals; bear, elk, deer and one odd looking creature that was standing bipedal, around eight feet tall.

"Shit, what the hell is that," Diane asked, pointing at the menagerie of animals outside the store.

Ianto craned his neck to look out towards where Diane was pointing, and then laughed. "That's supposed to be a yeti, you know Bigfoot. They've been spotted around here apparently."

"You're kidding right!" Diane said.

"Oh jeez, of course he is. That's not a real Bigfoot. There's no such thing, just made up stories by assholes trying to make some bucks with nothing better do to!" Conner said.

Ianto shrugged. "Who knows? People swear they have seen the creatures, but Conner's right. No real evidence has ever been presented to confirm their existence, and most of the stories are hoaxes, no doubt. Probably Weevils."

"Okay guys, can you shut up, you're beginning to freak me out," Madison said, turning around.

Conner manoeuvred the Chevrolet around a deep pothole that had formed in the road, continued to the junction, and turned right onto the mountain road. Found within the grassy expanses of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The Black Mountain Range, sometimes just called Black Mountain, is to the west, north of Swansea.

Either side of the narrow road, the pine woods grew denser and stretched out like a carpet of green surrounding the steep snow-white sides of the mountain, just a few miles distant.

Madison slid the window down, letting the cool September air rush into the truck. "Wow, can you smell that?" she said, referring to the refreshing fragrance of pine.

"Yeah, smells like my mum's bathroom freshener back home" Ianto said, smirking.

After thirty minutes of driving along the mountain road, a yellow, and barely visible sign-post, confirmed that it was only 2.5 miles to the _Barrens Wilderness Campsite._

"We're almost there, guys," Conner shouted.

They continued on for another fifteen minutes until finally, on the left, the road branched off. Another sign, pushed over to an angle of forty-five degrees, as if hit by something, announced that they'd reached the camp site.

Conner pulled into the large, empty parking area and killed the engine.

"Look at that, guys, this is what we came for," Conner said, looking out at their surroundings. Just beyond the hard natural earth parking lot was small lake, and beyond, pine-covered mountain peaks as far as the eye could see.

"Wow, amazing! Well let's go find a suitable spot and get our tents up before darkness falls," Madison said, opening the truck door.

"Good idea," Ianto said to Diane.

The four of them grabbed their backpacks from the back of the truck and headed off in the direction of a small hut, near the edge of the lake. The hut was empty and locked with a _Season Closed_ sign across the Perspex screen where the campsite warden would usually sit.

"Ah well, at least the stay won't cost us anything," Ianto said, peering into the hut.

"If the showers don't work, we can always bath 'au natural' in the lake," Conner added.

"You got to be kidding! It'll be bloody freezing in there," Diane replied, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, looks like a good spot over there," Ianto said, pointing past the hut towards a clearing in the woods, fifty feet away, just shy of the lake.

The four of them headed towards the spot and as they got closer, a rancid smell became noticeable, overpowering the fragrant scent of pine.

"Jeez, it stinks," Diane said, screwing up her nose.

"It sure isn't very pleasant," Ianto said, trekking behind Conner to the clearing.

"Eew, we can't sleep here, it bloody stinks like something just died," Madison said.

They headed over to a large tree bordering the clearing. As they rounded it, a buzzing sound, increasing in volume, became evident.

"Ah shit! What the hell is that?" Diane said, stopping in her tracks, snapping a hard twig underfoot as she did, the loud _crack_ startling everyone.

On the ground, obviously dead by the way its neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and partially covered in dry leaves, was a large, bloodied stag, the source of the stench.

"Stay there, guys," Ianto said to Diane and Madison as he and Conner walked over to the dead animal. The buzzing was emanating from the hundreds of flies swarming over the exposed flesh of the stag, where its hind legs and abdomen had been ripped open by a wild animal, exposing what was left of its torn and shredded innards.

"Christ, a black bear you think?" Ianto suggested, glancing up at Conner. "Closer to believable than a Bigfoot! There used to be cave bears but they are thought to be extinct now … who knows."

"Got to be, or a pack of wild dogs maybe?"

Ianto shrugged. "I've never seen a pack of wild dogs taking down something this big before. Maybe this is what we are looking for."

"Come on, let's get back to the girls, best not scare them," Conner added, as they turned and walked back to where the girls were waiting.

"We'll find another place to set up camp. It's just a stag, been dead for twelve hours or so. Some pack of wild dogs must have brought it down. Don't worry, once we have the camp fire going, they won't come anywhere near us," Ianto said, trying to reassure the girls even as he shared a look with Diane who knew as well as he did why they were here. Suddenly he didn't' have much faith in this other tea they were paired up with.

"We can go over there," Conner said, pointing to another clearing, about seventy feet farther along the lake edge.

As they walked alongside the lake, a distant cry from an animal or bird made its presence known from deep within the woods.

Ianto hammered the final tent peg into the ground, securing the second of the two two-man tents that he and Conner had just finished erecting in the pine woods clearing.

"Nice one mate, just in time. Sun is just about to disappear," Conner said.

"Well done, guys. At least that icky smell has gone," Madison said.

"Come on; let's get the fire going quick. I'll go search for some tinder," Diane said, rubbing her hands together as she headed towards the trees that bordered the clearing, Madison following her.

"Help me get some stones for the fire," Conner said to Ianto. Ianto was looking up towards the mountain and its snow covered sides, which were reflecting enough of the light that was left to illuminate the surrounding woods in an ethereal glow.

"Yep, sure," Ianto said, peeling his eyes away from the surreal view.

The pair of them headed to the lake edge and found enough small boulders to arrange around a depression they'd found near the tents, to make a perfect fire. Forty feet away, Diane and Madison were in the woods gathering large twigs. They had a good armful each, but the fading light was making it difficult to see.

"Come on, let's get back, I think we've enough here," Diane said. Madison nodded. As they turned to walk back, they heard a distant _crack_ from deep in the woods, like a tree branch, or piece of wood snapping.

"What the hell was that?" Madison whispered.

"God knows. Probably just an animal," Diane said.

"Come on, let's get back and get the fire started," she added, as they both turned and headed back to the lake edge.

"Here you go, guys," the girls said, dumping the tinder they'd collected on the floor by the ring of boulders. Diane nodded in the direction she had come from and Ianto glanced that way, interested in the silent warning that something was out that way.

"Nice one," Ianto said, grabbing the twigs and sticks and arranging them inside the stone ring. A few minutes later, he'd managed to set the smaller twigs alight and the tinder was now burning nicely, the flickering flames warming and bathing the four of them and the small clearing in an orange glow.

Ianto opened two tins of baked beans and stirred them in a pan that was resting on a couple of flat stones and started to heat them up.

"So, come on, Mr. Expert, tell us some stories about this place," Madison said, as she lit a Marlboro and took a long drag on it.

"Yeah, go for it," Diane said, as she shifted on the blanket that she and Madison were sitting on.

Conner rolled his eyes.

"Hold on, I'm going to get us a couple of beers," he said, as he got up and headed over to the truck.

Ianto gave the beans another stir. "Well, legends and mysteries abound in this place. There are records of hikers and campers feeling an ethereal aura when trekking near or around the mountain, and native people have always held the mountain as a sacred area."

"Well, all we've experienced so far is a nasty smell," Madison interrupted.

Ianto continued. "UFO proponents are said to believe a secret alien base is located deep within the mountain."

"That's just silly!" Madison said.

Conner returned with four cans of Budweiser.

"Actually, there's some support for that theory," he said, sitting down next to Madison and handing them each a can. "A chap was flying his light aircraft near the Mountain, along the crest of the Ranges back in, I think 1947, when he spotted nine high-speed objects, which he described as, _flying like a saucer would_. His report made international headlines at the time."

Ianto opened his beer and took a gulp, before turning to his friend. "That's correct; I didn't expect you to have known that. There are also some, admittedly strange sects who believe the mountain is even an entry point into a fifth dimension. Many strange, pulsating lights have been reported over the past five decades by some very credible witnesses."

Diane suddenly shivered.

"Now you're freaking me out," she said, opening her beer.

Ianto shifted the pan over the flames to give the beans one last blast of heat, before serving them. "In 1931, a woods fire swept through, but was apparently stopped from advancing by a mysterious fog that appeared from nowhere. Interestingly the weird fog created a fire-line demarcation of charred woods, which was curved in direct correlation with the Central Time Zone line."

"Hmm, that's a bit freaky," Madison said, looking at Diane.

"But, the most worrying fact for us, tonight, guys is that we might be sharing the woods with…Bigfoot. Many sightings have been reported on Mt. Black. It's believed by many to be the hiding place home of the mythical creatures."

"Now you're freaking me out, too Ianto. Don't be an asshole!" Diane said.

"Now that's BS," Conner said. "If that was the case they'd have a real stuffed Bigfoot, Sasquatch or whatever you want to call it back down at the gun store, not a silly fake one. The Agency would know for sure."

Ianto shrugged.

"I'm just reciting the stories," he said, grabbing the pan from the fire and serving up four plates of hot beans for everyone. "Tuck in, guys."

The four of them ate in silence, apart from the odd crack and pop springing from the fire in front of them as the tinder burned.

"What's the time now, guys?" Madison asked, finishing a last spoonful of beans.

Ianto checked his watch. "Coming up to ten."

"Blimey, that late already? What time are we setting off hiking tomorrow?" Diane asked.

"Let's try to get going around seven. It's going to be a long day," Ianto said, finishing his beer.

"Well, I'm not going to get much sleep after those spooky stories you told," Diane said, glaring at Ianto.

"Well you asked to hear them! Besides, they're only stories," he said.

"Chill out, honey. When Ianto pulls you in that tent and uses his Welsh charm on you, you'll be asleep in no time!"

"Funny," Ianto said, picking up a small twig and throwing it across the fire at Madison.

,,,,,,,,,,

"Stop scratching my ankle with your toes, please," Diane said, prodding Ianto in the stomach.

"Hey, it was an accident, buddy," Ianto replied, shifting in the twin person sleeping bag. This thing of pretending to be a couple was getting annoying, why they had to go through this farce was beyond him. The inter-agency thing was stupid. If the American Agency didn't know by now that he was married to another Male Hunter then they were useless at their jobs. Like … it was OK to be with a woman partner but not a man?

"I can't sleep," Diane whispered.

Ianto cuddled up, kissed Diane on the lips, then pulled away.

She whispered. "What time is it anyway?"

Ianto checked his watch. "One forty."

Suddenly, from somewhere outside the tent, a low pitched growl was audible for a brief moment, followed by a couple of thuds, and the sound of a dry twig snapping.

"What the fuck was that?" Diane whispered, her eyes wide-open with fear. "That is not a bloody Weevil is it!"

There was another flurry of heavy footfall, followed by a loud, hollow, _thud…thud…thud_ , as if someone, or something was whacking the trunk of a large tree with a baseball bat.

"Shhh," Ianto whispered, raising his finger to his lips. Diane stared at him, her eyes fearful. Suddenly, there was a loud pounding on the ground right outside, followed by an eerie, low Neanderthal sounding growl.

"Is it a bear?" Diane whispered, petrified.

Ianto edged slowly to the end of the tent, and very quietly, started to unzip the entrance, bottom to top.

A three-quarter Moon bathed the clearing and pine woods beyond in light, giving quite good visibility. Everything appeared normal at first, until his eyes focused on a large, dark mass which he'd first thought was part of a huge tree at the edge of the clearing. _Were the shadows from the trees branches playing tricks?_

Then he saw something, a pair of eyes, white and green, eight feet or so off the ground. Ianto felt his knees shake as he tried to fathom out what the object was that he was looking at. _What the hell?_ He said to himself, as he traced the outline of a large, hairy animal, which was standing upright on two legs in the shadows of the tree.

Could a bear do that?

He quickly zipped the tent flap back up and quietly moved back over to Diane.

"I think it's a bloody bear, we…we need to stay calm, don't move," he whispered nervously, while reaching into the side pocket of his backpack for his hunting knife.

Suddenly, there was another growl, this time much louder, and coming from just outside the tent. The growl was followed by the sound of material ripping…tent material. And then a blood curdling scream pierced the night air.

"Fuck, that's Madison!" Diane screamed.

"Jesus," Ianto replied, gripping the knife tighter in his right hand. He was fumbling with his pack for the gun, then saw Diane already had it as she backed away from that side of the tent.

"We need to leave the tent. When we do, I want you to run. Run for the car and don't look back! Here's the keys, get in, lock the doors, and wait for me," he whispered.

Madison screamed again, but this time the scream was different, more muffled, and weaker.

Ianto unzipped the tent flap and he and Diane crawled out, a stench of rotting flesh greeted them as they inhaled the cool night air.

The scene in front of them defied all rationality. A huge, muscular creature, covered in matted, brown hair and a large ovoid head, was standing upright, its arm held out, and its hand gripping Madison around her neck.

Madison's legs were dangling beneath her, frantically kicking the air.

"Run for the car," Ianto shouted to Diane, as he crouched, frozen to the ground at the sight in front of him. His brain was telling him it had to be a bear, but his eyes were looking at something different.

Diane scrambled off in the direction of the car, her hands across her mouth, as she tried to stifle her cries.

The creature cocked its head over to one side, and stared directly at Ianto, its green eyes appearing luminous under the bright Moon. A sickening crack followed, as it snapped Madison's neck with one quick jerk of its huge, hairy hand.

Then, from the side of the tent, Conner appeared, holding a gun, which he used to fire several shots at the creature's neck. It slowly turned to snarl at him.

No way, Ianto thought, as he instinctively ran over to help his friend. He plunged the hunting knife he was holding into the creatures flank, but its hair was so thick he had no idea if the blade had gone in.

The creature twisted its upper body towards Ianto and let out an ear-piercing, guttural scream that made Ianto's neck hair prick up in sheer terror.

The creature then yanked the knife out, grabbed Conner, and proceeded to batter his head hard against the ground. Conner didn't stand a chance. The creature was mercilessly smashing his head and torso against the ground as if he were a rag doll.

"Run…fucking run, mate," gurgled Conner, from his bloodied mouth.

The creature then twisted its upper body towards Ianto and let out another ear-piercing scream that sent an icy shiver racing up Ianto's spine.

Ianto glanced towards the truck, which was in darkness.

There was no sign of Diane. He hoped she'd managed to get inside. She knew her way around, she had been trained to survive. He was about to run in the direction of the parked vehicle, but feared he wouldn't make it, so he turned and sprinted as fast as he could towards the river bank, leaping into the fast flowing river as he reached the edge, without looking back.

He winced in pain as the freezing water enveloped him, the fast-moving river carrying him downstream.


	2. Wet cold and where the hell am I?

Ianto swam to the river bank and clawed at the muddy grass as he dragged himself out of the icy water. He had no idea how far the river had taken him, but he guessed it must have been half a mile at least. Clear of the water, he rolled onto his back to catch his breath, panting with exertion.

He had to find Diane, and wondered how far from the road he was. His head spun with questions, questions he didn't have answers to.

The fear from what he'd just witnessed flooded back into his head like a tidal-wave. Could he really have just seen a Bigfoot? Or had it been a large, crazed bear? He felt confused, unsure of what he'd really witnessed. Ianto tore his watery eyes away from the shimmering stars and looked around the river bank and dark woods beyond.

Had the creature stalked him? Was Diane still alive?

"Fuck!" he whispered under his breath, as he got to his feet, rubbing his arms and hands together in a vain attempt to warm up.

He had an open and inquisitive mind, but his studies and research had never prepared him for an encounter such as this. _It was extraordinary_ , he thought, as he shivered and ran towards the tree line in search of the road.

.

.

.

.

Diane was shaking uncontrollably and huddled down in the foot-well of the passenger seat inside the SUV, too scared to look out the window. Not that she could see much through the dark, tinted glass anyway. What the hell had just happened? She couldn't fathom what she'd just witnessed. The last image she had was of Madison, being held by the neck by what? Had it been a bear or something that shouldn't exist?

She felt herself hyperventilating and covered her mouth with her hands. _Concentrate on breathing_ , she told herself as she felt another wave of panic wash over her. The creature was still out there. What if it could smell her? She didn't want to die. Not now, not like this, surely to God. Diane felt her heart rate quicken, and then she looked out.

.

.

.

Ianto reached the tree line, stopped, peered into the darkness beyond the trees, and listened. Apart from the distant hoot of an owl, the woods were quiet. He thought back to the journey up, and tried to form a picture in his mind of the river, and the road up to the campsite. The river had been on their right side on the route up. Thankfully, he'd exited the river on the correct side. He headed into the woods, moving slowly in a direction that should take him towards the road.

Ianto had been walking for around twenty minutes when he heard something; a rustling, and a twig snapping somewhere in the woods. He froze, his heart pumping in his chest like a bass drum. He listened, trying to determine if it was just an ordinary woods animal or a larger creature. The woods fell silent again, unusually silent. He waited for five minutes or so, remaining motionless, but the sound didn't return. Petrified and cold, he moved forward as stealthily as he could, over the dry woods ground.

Another twenty minutes walking and he saw a strip of light through the trees. He squinted and focused on the strip, before realising it was the moonlight reflecting off the surface of the road. _Thank God_ , he thought, as he moved as quickly as he dared through the trees, crossing the one hundred feet or so distance to the road. He made it, scrambled down a small bank, and stepped onto the asphalt. As expected, the road was deserted, and the dark woods either side freaked him out. But at least he felt a little safer all of a sudden, and thankfully the road was lighter, the surface lit by the moonlight from the full Moon above.

He checked the time; it was 03.40. It was easy to work out which way to go. The road was on a slight incline, and he knew it led down towards the town of Black and up towards the campsite. He couldn't leave Diane alone, so headed up, hoping she was still safe, and waiting for him in the SUV, somewhere near the campsite entrance.

Ianto rounded a bend in the road and caught glimpse of the wooden gates that marked the gated entrance to the campsite. Pine trees stretched out either side like a solid wall in the darkness. When he finally reached the entrance to the campsite, his nerves were frayed, and every sound that emanated from the woods sent a shiver down his spine. He hadn't seen any vehicle lights on the road during his trek up through the woods and figured that Diane must still be here unless she'd driven off whilst he'd been in the river, which was possible.

She had been trained to run.

Ianto crouched down by one of the large gate posts and peered into the camp site area, hearing the river flowing by in the distance. Apart from an early morning breeze rustling through the pine trees, all was still. He needed to move farther into the site to get a proper view of the car park area off to his left. He crept in, glancing every few seconds to his right, where the attack had taken place an hour or so earlier.

A silhouette of Conner's stationary SUV came into view, parked up in the spot where they'd left it. Had Diane even made it to the vehicle? A wave of nausea washed over him as he feared the worst. He pulled out his smart phone and found it wasn't functioning, water damaged from his earlier spell in the river.

He crept towards the vehicle, using the mature trees as cover to keep himself as hidden as possible, hoping the creature had gone. He made it to the thick trunk of a spruce tree and looked around. The SUV was twenty feet away, parked in a clearing, at the far edge of the camp site's parking area.

He took a deep breath and darted across the open space to the truck, crouching down by the passenger side wheel for cover. He reached up to the door to try it, but it was locked.

Ianto cursed under his breath. Diane had the keys, and he didn't have a spare. He scuttled around the front of the vehicle and tried the driver's door, also locked.

He looked to his left, towards the small hut they'd passed on the way to the clearing where they'd set up the tents. The area was well lit by the Moon, but he saw nothing, apart from trees and shadows, the only sound came from the river gushing by a short distance away.

Ianto rose to peer in through the SUV's tinted, glass driver's window to look for Diane, cupped his hands and stared into the vehicle. As his eyes adjusted, he made out the balled up figure of Diane in the foot-well of the passenger side.

A wave of relief rose inside him and he went to walk back around the front of the car to the passenger side, but froze in his tracks as he saw the silhouette of something large, standing on the tree line, looking directly at him.

Ianto felt his legs turn to jelly. A second later, he heard a loud _click_ , like the sound of a branch snapping, and the dark shape moved towards him. Something sounded familiar about the sound however. It wasn't the sound of a branch snapping, but of a gun being loaded.

"What the hell is going on here boy?" A man's voice boomed from the tree line.

Ianto strained his eyes as he felt a palpable wave of relief wash over him.

"Don… don't shoot," he said, as he moved back round the front of the vehicle.

A man dressed in dark clothing, holding a sawn-off shotgun, stepped out from beside a large tree. Ianto immediately noticed a five-pointed star fixed to his jacket, glinting in the moonlight.

"I'm Chief Constable Rob Garland, Mount Black Police Department. Keep your hands up, boy. What the hell are you kids doing out here? Damn camp site has been closed for a week."

"Yep, we know it's a bit late in the season, but there's no need for the gun. I need help. My girlfriend's in the vehicle. We were attacked…"

"Attacked?" The Chief Constable said, moving closer to Ianto, shotgun still aimed at him.

Ianto took a deep breath, and trying to compose himself said, "I think it was a bear, something larger, I'm not sure!"

"Are you taking the piss, boy? If you college kids are playing pranks on each other do it in your own backyards not out here."

Ianto rubbed his arms, he was freezing.

"It sounds crazy I know. We set up camp over there," he said pointing. "My two friends were attacked. Their bodies are over there. There's also a large stag carcass, looks as if it's been freshly killed by something large."

The Chief Constable looked towards the woods and a small clearing not far from the lake.

"Are you being serious?" The Chief Constable said, noticing the look of anxiety on Ianto's face.

"Yep, I swear…."

"Well you better not be fooling around kid," The Chief Constable said, cutting him off.

"At least let me check on my girlfriend," Ianto said, gesturing toward the car door. "It's locked and I don't have the keys. Diane isn't responding."

The Chief Constable pressed his face up against the passenger window for a second, then stepped back, walked briskly around the car, and over to the driver's window. He then held his shotgun with both hands, as if he were gripping a pole, and slammed the end of the barrel into the driver's window, shattering it with one blow.

"Go get her," he grunted.

Ianto leant across to the foot-well where Diane was still huddled into a ball. The noise from the shattered window must have woken her. She looked up at him, trembling, mascara smudged on her cheeks, and her eyes open wide in fear.

"Yan…Ianto?" she whimpered.

"It's okay honey. I came back, the Chief Constable is here too. We're safe," he said, hugging her as best he could from his horizontal position while carefully warning her that there was company.

With Diane out of the vehicle and slightly calmer, they followed the Chief Constable over to where the attack had taken place.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ianto whispered to Diane, as they passed the small, wooden ticket hut.

Diane nodded. "I need to know what happened to them."

They approached the area where they had erected the tents, allowing them to clearly see the second tent, which had been ripped to shreds. The sleeping bags and remains of Madison's and Conner's backpacks lay strewn over the ground.

"Is this your friend's tent?" the Chief Constable asked, upon reaching the spot, realising that something odd had clearly taken place.

Ianto nodded, seeing no evidence of Madison's and Conner's bodies.

The Chief Constable looked at them. "You expect me to believe that your friends have been taken by a bear, or something larger?" he said, grinning slightly, his tone harsh once again.

Ianto scrutinised the ground around the tent as he replayed the attack in his mind, recalling the thing smashing Conner's head against a rock. He found the rock, partially hidden by some torn canvas from the tent, Conner's blood still clearly visible splattered over it.

"Over here," Ianto said, showing the Chief Constable the blood stained rock.

"And here," he added, spotting a set of two foot wide drag marks, barely visible on the hard ground, disappearing into the woods.

The Chief Constable knelt down to inspect the tracks. "Okay, I accept that something odd has occurred here, but I can't guess at what," he said, looking into the trees. "Come on; let's get back to my vehicle. I'll radio for assistance and get you two back to town for some medical help and food."

…

The Heddlu Chief Constable drove Ianto and Diane back down the mountain to the town of Black. They were both now seated in a small, but functional and warm interrogation room in the Mount Black Police Department in the centre of town. The clock on the wall had just ticked to 07.50.

"You kids must be wrecked. Here's some coffee. Breakfast is on its way," a female officer said to them, as she handed them both a mug of hot coffee.

"I'm Sergeant Jo Rogers," she said, smiling.

"Thank you," Ianto said, warming his cold hands around the hot mug.

"We'll need to take statements from you once you've had breakfast, while events are still fresh in your minds. Then you'll be free to get some rest. Is that okay?" she said, glancing at them both in turn.

"Sure," Ianto replied, wearily.

Sergeant Rogers nodded and left the room.

"I still can't believe what happened to us," Diane said, her eyes glazed. "Why didn't this show up on the prelims? I was so sure we weren't going to find anything"

Ianto shook his head.

"I agree, it's difficult to accept what we saw. I mean, I don't even know what we saw. If they never find the bodies or any evidence of that thing, who is going to believe us?" he said, taking a gulp of coffee.

The female officer returned with a cooked breakfast of eggs over easy, hash browns, beans, and streaky bacon.

"Oh, you don't happen to have any rice do you?" Ianto asked.

"Rice?" the officer asked.

"To put this in," Ianto said, holding up his waterlogged smart phone. "It might help!"

The officer smiled.

"Sure, I'll go get some," she said.

"Well, it worked for me once when I dropped my phone down the toilet."

The officer raised her eyebrows and left the room. Ianto and Diane ate in silence; their plates empty in no time. Not long after they finished eating, the female officer returned with the Chief Constable, a small Dictaphone and a couple pads of notepaper in her hand.

"Okay, we need to take some details of what happened last night. We're treating this as a missing person's case at the moment but the things might change as the investigation progresses. There's no need to involve attorneys at the moment, but of course, you have the right to an attorney should you both wish. Do you understand?"

Ianto looked at Diane and nodded. Time to play the game and discover who or what was being covered up around here, the disappearances obviously nor cannibals or anything weird like that. Definitely looking like a Torchwood situation.

"We both understand. We'll just tell it as it happened. We don't need lawyers… yet," he said. Diane nodded in agreement.

It took an hour for them to both tell the officers what they knew, from the moment they'd left their homes early yesterday morning, to the moment the attack had happened.

The female officer looked at the Chief Constable and back at the two of them.

"Are you sure you don't want to….to change your statements in any way?" she asked.

Ianto shrugged. "Nope, that's exactly what happened."

Diane nodded.

"Well, it's a little hard to believe, but if you say that's what happened, that's what happened, I guess," the female officer said, clearly sceptical.

"So, are we free to go? We really need to get some sleep," Ianto asked.

"I guess so. I'd advise you to get a room here if you can. Save you driving all the way home. We'll send someone back to pick your vehicle up. All we ask is that you don't leave the area. We'll need to speak to you further once the investigation is underway. We will be sending out a search team shortly to look for your friends," she said.

She reached into the pocket of her blue shirt and pulled out a card. "Here, call me if you think of anything else; any other detail," she said, slipping the card across the table towards Ianto.

"Thanks," Ianto said, as he and Diane stood up to leave.

"Hold on a minute, Mr. Harkness-Jones," the female officer said, as she stood and left the room.

Ianto felt his heart sink.

Sergeant Rogers returned.

"You forgot this. Nice idea with the rice, but it doesn't seem to have worked," she said, handing Ianto his phone back.

"Oh! Well, thanks for trying anyway," Ianto said, as he and Diane headed for the corridor and the way out.

Sergeant Rogers looked at Sherriff Garland. "Do you believe them?"

Garland scratched his stubbly jaw.

"Do I hell," he replied. "Come on; let's get the search party underway. Something happened up there for sure, but attacked by something that looked like a bear, but was bigger; really?"

"Well, there have been stories, of Bigfoot being spotted around here."

Garland shook his head. "Don't you start! Let's get back up there. We'll probably find out they were all smoking some strong grass, after which their friends wandered off to shag in the woods and became lost."

.

.

.

.

Jack is not in this one, this story is Diane and Ianto as a Hunting Team ... the next story however...


	3. Right... back to the first sighting ... the shop

"Where are we going?" Diane asked, as she followed Ianto out of the police station. He turned right, and was heading out of town, towards the mountain road.

"I want to speak to the owner of that hunting shop we passed on the way up."

"What, the owner of the creepy store with all the stuffed animals outside?" Diane asked, trying to catch him up.

"Yep."

"Oh, bloody hell, can't we just go back up with some big guns?"

"What?! Diane, American Crew were just slain in front of us by a freaking creature that shouldn't exist, and you want to go kill it without some more information? Gods, you are such a female version of my mate, Jack. You don't think we should tread carefully? I need to go to that store, ask the owner some questions."

"Okay, okay," Diane replied, as they both walked along the street to where the shop was located, just before the bend where the road snaked up the mountain.

Ten minutes later they reached _Casey's Hunting Lodge_ and Ianto looked up at the large, and clearly fake, stuffed Bigfoot. It looked nothing like the thing they'd seen last night. This looked more like an ape, whereas the thing they'd seen last night was more a cross between a bear and a human.

"I can't look at it. Let's go in," Diane said.

They weaved their way through the large collection of stuffed animals, which were fixed to wheeled platforms for ease of movement, and entered the store.

A bell _dinged_ above them as they opened the door, alerting the shop owner to their presence. A man in his mid-thirties appeared from behind a long counter.

"Howdy, folks," he said, eyeing them both with dark, beady eyes.

The shop was fairly dark inside, and the walls covered with moose, stag, and deer heads, their antlers protruding like old tree branches into the space, cobwebs coating most of them.

"What can I do you for?" the guy asked.

Below the mostly wooden counter, glass cabinets were filled with hunting guns and knives.

"Looking for a hunting weapon?" the guy asked, looking at them both in turn.

"Maybe," Ianto said. "First, I just wanted to ask you about the stuffed Bigfoot you've got out there."

"Old Sally? Ah, she's not for sale I'm afraid," the guy said, smiling.

"Sally?" Diane repeated.

"Sally Sasquatch. We've had her for thirty years, but she ain't for sale I'm afraid," he repeated.

"It's okay. We don't want to buy it," Ianto said.

The guy shrugged. "What can I do for you then?"

"This is going to sound a bit odd, but we were camping last night up at Pine Crags Campsite and we got attacked…our friends were killed, we believe, by a bearlike creature, possibly a Bigfoot."

The guy stared at them in silence for a few seconds.

"You're shitting me," he finally said.

"I know it's hard to believe, but we did," Diane said, sounding emotional.

"Wait here," the guy said, as he turned and disappeared into another room through an arch behind the counter.

"Pa," he shouted. "You're gonna want to come down here and see these folks."

The guy reappeared.

"My Pa is going to want to speak to you guys. Take a seat, please," he said, pointing to an old, worn leather sofa tucked away next to a large, carved wooden bison, at the rear of the store.

Ianto and Diane walked over and sat down. Two minutes later an older man, in his mid-sixties, appeared. He had a white, stained polo-neck jumper on, ripped, worn jeans, and a cap with the motif _Monster Hunter_ written on it.

He strode over to them.

"Howdy, I'm Casey. This is my store. My son, Arran, tells me you spotted a Sasquatch last night," he said, speaking excitedly in a gruff voice.

Ianto cleared his throat, before telling the man briefly what had happened.

"I'll be damned," Casey finally said. "You positive it wasn't just a bear? I've been out trying to capture one of those things for two decades, and now you tell me this happened right up the road. Unbelievable," he said, taking his cap off and shaking his head. "The proof tht Cave Bears are not extinct? Or better still … it really is a Big Foot? Damn it, pricks at the Police Station probably don't know you are here."

"It didn't look like any bear I've ever seen. We just need your help. I mean, the police are involved so I guess we shouldn't even be talking to you about it, but…"

"Well I'm bloody grateful you did. The police won't do a damn thing. They'll go and have a look, find nothing, and treat the case as missing persons, like the rest. It's happened before, all covered up, believe me. No, the best way to deal with this is to get up there and hunt for the creature and what's left…I mean, your friends, ourselves. I know what to look for and I've been waiting for a moment like this all my life. I've also got a good buddy, in the film business. He's been waiting to produce a documentary about Mount Black for a long time. This is the perfect opportunity. I mean, sorry about your friends an' all," he said, stopping to catch his breath and glancing at them awkwardly.

"This story is too big to be hushed up. I need to call Dickie now. Please, don't go away. I'll be right back," he said, before rushing over to the counter and disappearing through the arch.

"Oh God, what have we done?" Diane said.

Ianto shook his head. "I didn't expect this. I just wanted to ask the guy if he'd ever heard any rumours about what we'd seen. Crap," Ianto whispered.

Casey returned after a few minutes, talking excitedly on a mobile phone he had gripped in his large, leathery hand.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right, they're here now. Happened last night, just five, six miles from the store, base of the mountain. Yeah…yeah," Ianto heard Casey talking rapidly.

Casey nodded. "Great, we'll see you all tomorrow evening then. Yep, we can meet here. Cheers, Richard."

Casey ended the call and pulled a chair over to the sofa. "Well, that was my old pal, Richard Armstrong. He's based in London. Has his own small film crew, works for Channel Five, I think it is? He's an independent documentary filmmaker, and been dying to do a story about this location for years. He's buzzing with excitement, thanks to you guys and is going to get on a flight first thing in the morning," Casey said, grinning.

"Jesus Christ," Diane said, looking at Ianto.

Ianto shook his head. "Well, at least it'll be a British documentary," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"So what do you plan on doing exactly?" Ianto asked, after a few moments silence.

"Well, Dickie already has funding in place for the documentary, which means we can spend a week up in the mountains to try hunt down whatever you saw. Plan will be to try and capture it alive, and make ourselves rich and famous in the process. We will have heat-seeking equipment, motion sensors, the lot. Dickie gets his documentary, while we try to hunt and catch a real live Sasquatch," Casey said, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"This is all too much," Diane said, as she started sobbing.

Ianto put his arm around her. "Come on, honey. What do you want to do? Do you want me to drive us back home?"

"I don't know. I do feel bad leaving here knowing that Maddie and Conner are still out there somewhere in the woods."

"Listen, guys. Can I make a suggestion?" Casey chimed in. "Why don't you stay here tonight. You'll be in the safest place in town; I've got a small armoury here and spare rooms upstairs. Stay the night, meet my mate, Dickie Armstrong tomorrow, and then decide what you want to do. You're both too tired to drive all the way back now anyway. What d'ya say?"

Diane looked at Ianto and shrugged. It had worked, not only were they assured a front line to the action but seemed vulnerable and soft enough not to be looked at too closely if they did their own investigation. Ianto was proud of how far she was coming, her ability to read people and act to their personal vulnerabilities was powerful. Christ, if she kept this up he might adopt her or something.

Ianto nodded. "Okay, it's a done deal. We'll stay here and sleep on things."

"A very wise decision. You'll not regret it. I know it's terrible what happened out there, but the best remedy for your grief will be to try to find that thing and lay your friends to rest properly," Casey said.

"I hope we're doing the right thing," Diane said.

Ianto shrugged. "We'll find out soon enough."

Casey looked at them both. "Well, follow me, I'll show you to your room."

"Well done" Ianto whispered as he placed his hand in the small of her back to guide her from the room, "Oscar worthy."

"What … only Oscar?" she replied with her tear filled eyes and Ianto bit back the urge to giggle at her display.

He needed a phone. They had to report to the Agency, Tosh will be both exited and horrified to learn they lost the other team.

.

.

.

Ianto and Diane are pretending to be a couple as this is an inter-agency pairing with the American couple. In this Verse Hunters either operate alone or with family ... you trust only those closest to you. They pretended to be a couple as the Amercian Agency would have not allowed a pariing with their couple otherwize and Tosh didn't want to send anyone else on this assignment. I know you all miss Jack... don't worry. He is at the end and will be in the next one. Promise, we have to establish Diane's place as Ianto's Hunting Sister though.


	4. time to load up

Next morning Ianto headed into the bathroom where he quickly shaved off four days-worth of stubble from his face, before jumping in the shower. He towelled himself dry, pulled on a pair of jeans and a clean, light blue cotton shirt, and crept out of the bedroom, leaving Diane to sleep for a while longer.

Downstairs, Casey was already up, and in the process of sorting through items of equipment that he'd placed into small piles on the floor. Ianto could see hunting knives, flares, camping equipment, and rifles with high-powered scopes. Casey sat down as Ianto entered the room and started cleaning the reloading mechanism of one of the weapons, when he heard Ianto and looked up. "Howdy! Did you sleep well, buddy?"

"Yeah thanks. I woke myself with a bad dream, but apart from that, I slept like a baby."

"Not surprised that you had nightmares after what you witnessed buddy. Anyway, I'm just getting some supplies ready. The film company are paying for all this, so I sure as hell ain't going to hold back. Dicky and his team will be here in a few hours. We'll try to set off around lunchtime, so we can get up to the mountain before the government have time to set up proper security check points," he said, grinning.

"Morning," came Diane's sleepy voice, from the archway just behind them, a moment later.

Ianto turned to see her standing in her pyjamas, her blonde hair hanging messily, but sexily, across her forehead.

"Hey there, are you okay? I just came down. Didn't want to wake you," Ianto said, walking over and kissing her on her temple. Felt nice to have a little sister.

"I'll get the wife to rustle you guys up some breakfast," Casey said, locking and unlocking the loading mechanism on the shotgun, with a satisfying _clunk_.

"I was just telling Ianto we aim to leave around noon, as I'm sure you guys could do with a big breakfast. It's probably going to be late afternoon before we get the chance to eat again," he said, placing the gun onto the counter.

"Sounds good," Ianto said.

Diane nodded. "I'll go take a shower then."

After breakfast, Ianto asked Casey's wife if she could bury his smart phone in a pot of rice for a few hours. The brief spell at the police station hadn't been long enough to dry it out, or so he hoped. Casey's wife gave him a funny look, but carried out his request. The report given in heavy code on the unsecure line last night was already making waves back home and Ianto hoped they didn't send another team to assist with this one. The bounty on a killer like this might buy him a nice holiday with Jack and the little fella. He and Diane then headed back to the room. It was still only 8.45 a.m.

Through the bedroom window, Ianto could see the peak of Mount Black glistening in the early morning cloudless sky. However his gaze was suddenly distracted by a dark shape coming along the street below. He looked down and saw a dark green truck drive past, its noisy diesel engine spluttering black smoke as it headed up the road towards the camping area.

"Jeez, the military are here already," he muttered to Diane, as the truck rounded the bend and vanished up the mountain road.

Not long after the military vehicle had passed, Ianto was outside studying the now very fake-looking Bigfoot model standing near the entrance to the store, when two brand new looking Mercedes trucks pulled up onto the kerb and parked up. Large, bright yellow and blue lettering on the side confirmed the vehicles identity - Channel Five Productions, U.K. A stocky chap in his mid-thirties, with short, blond hair and a friendly, trusting face jumped out, stretched his arms, and yawned.

"Wakey, wakey," he said, either to himself, or another as yet unseen occupant inside the van. He noticed Ianto and walked over.

"Hey, I'm Armstrong, Richard Armstrong. Say, you're not Ianto Harkness-Jones, the guy involved in the grizzly bear-come-Bigfoot attack?" he asked, matter-of-factly.

"Um, yes, that's me. Well, it was my friends who were taken, I witnessed the attack," Ianto said.

"Un-bloody-believable. Great to meet you Ianto. I'm here courtesy of good old Channel Five. Where you from? I'm from Wales, lived in Penarth all my life," Armstrong said.

"Really? Well I was born in Cardiff, but lived in London for eight years, and have been back home the last four."

"Fantastic! I heard you studied physics at MIT? Perfect, lends an air of credibility to the documentary," Armstrong said, excitedly. Ianto wondered where he had heard that then knew Tosh was already working like a Trojan.

As he spoke, a tired looking brunette jumped out of the passenger side of the van.

"Meet Alicia, Alicia John, our make-up and lighting assistant," Armstrong said.

Ianto smiled at Alicia, reached out and shook her hand.

"Hi Ianto, it's nice to meet you," she said, yawning. "Excuse me, but I'm bloody knackered."

"Guys, I know you've come all the way out here to make a documentary on what happened, but this isn't a joke. I'm a pretty open minded guy, but I still can't get to grips with what happened last night, and you sure as hell won't need any makeup up there," Ianto said.

"We always need make-up. Anyway, I'll leave you to it, boss," Alicia pulled a face. she said, looking at Armstrong, and jumping back into the truck.

"Don't worry, Ianto; we're taking this stuff very seriously too. That's why I made sure I got over here as quickly as possible. We're here to make a documentary not a B-Movie."

At that moment a skinny, scruffy-looking kid with unkempt, ginger hair jumped out the back of the other truck, wearing torn jeans and a lumber-jack shirt. He looked excited and came running over to where the three of them were standing.

"Hey boss, boss, you're never going to guess what I just picked up. As you know, we've been eavesdropping on the U.S. Military radio channel to keep tabs on the security situation and…"

"Calm down, Bruce. This is Ianto. Ianto was involved in the attack last night. Ianto, meet Bruce, my computer geek and general all-round tech wizard. Anything goes wrong, Bruce can fix it," Armstrong smirked.

Bruce reached for Ianto's hand. "Ah, Ianto, yes, very nice to meet you. I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your friends up there. Unbelievable, but then there's lots of weird, unbelievable crap going on around here right

now."

"So what did you find out, Bruce?" Armstrong asked, interrupting.

"Well, more weird shit really. Apparently, they've now detected some kind of signal that is being transmitted from the mountain to the Moon!" Bruce said, his eyes darting between Armstrong and Ianto.

"Say that again, who's detected what?" Ianto asked, his head starting to spin a little. Not good. Not good at all.

"Well, I just heard a conversation on the military channel I was tuned into. They were discussing a signal that SETI organisation, you know, the search for E.T., has detected, apparently originating from the mountain here and terminating on the Moon! I mean, how freaky is that with all this other crap that's going on?"

"Have you recorded the conversations?" Ianto asked, intrigued.

"Damn right we have," Bruce said, looking at his boss.

"Well done, Bruce. Keep us informed, sounds interesting. We could include it in the story," Armstrong said.

"Okay, I'll get back to it, boss. Let me know when we're due to leave, as I'll want a wash and change of clothes before we head off," Bruce said, heading back over to the parked truck.

"Knowing a bit about your background, that must be of interest to you eh, Ianto," Armstrong winked.

"The whole thing is crazy. Doesn't make sense, but if what I just heard is fact, then it's even more incredible than the events of the night on the mountain. I need to make some calls. See if any of my colleagues know anything about this," Ianto said.

"Okay, where's my pal, Casey, is he up and about?" Armstrong asked.

"Yep, follow me. He's getting the supplies for the trip ready," Ianto said, as they both walked into the store.

The trucks pulled away from Casey's store forecourt, following two black Tacoma's, one being driven by Casey and the other by his son, Arran. Ianto and Diane were in the vehicle being driven by Arran.

Ianto glanced back at the store, now closed until they returned. The stuffed animals outside, including the fake 'Sally' Sasquatch, appeared to watch them leave, as if bidding them all good luck.

"I can't believe we're going back up there," Diane said, expelling a little shiver as she snuggled up to Ianto in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You know you didn't have to come with me, but I just can't let this go. What happened the other night was one thing, but now the detection of some kind of signal, if true, is something entirely different. There's no way I can't not investigate this further," Ianto said. "This could be way beyond a normal hunt. This could be the start of an invasion."

"I know," Diane whispered, accepting the situation. Ianto pulled out his smart phone, now working again after the rice trick, which must have absorbed whatever remained of the river following his swim the night before, and checked the screen. There were no unread messages. He'd called his friend, Owen earlier, to ask him if he'd heard anything. Apart from the underground newsflash about the alleged Bigfoot attack, which was making the rounds, no mention had been made of any mystery signal mentioned by Bruce.

As expected, Owen had been intrigued, and would try to find out what he could. The Tacomas accelerated up the mountain road towards the campsite, followed by Richard Armstrong and the Channel Five film crew in the Mercedes trucks. The river flowed lazily on their right, hiding the horror and mystery of the events from the night before.

The pine woods of the National Park, home to more than just trees, deer, stags, and bear it seemed, stretched out either side of the road in a carpet of green.

A crackling voice erupted from the dashboard of the truck, and Arran yanked a radio that was attached to a bendy cable from the dashboard. Good old-fashioned VHF CB.

"There's a military roadblock eleven miles ahead? Okay, Pa, so I'll follow you then," Arran said, replacing the CB.

"Is there a problem?" Ianto asked.

"Not really Ianto. As suspected, the military have set up a checkpoint on the main route up. Bruce, the Channel Five kid, has been listening in for us. My father knows an alternative route about five miles up from our current location, takes us through the woods and right up to the base of the mountain, bypassing the main road. Nobody will know we're there, unless they have radar or motion detectors."

"Sounds good," Ianto replied. The only ones with those nits of tech were them.

They drove on for another ten minutes before Casey, in the lead Tacoma, braked and slowed. On the left side of the highway was a sloping grass bank, which appeared to lead nowhere. Casey drove his vehicle off the highway and down the bank, bringing it to a stop in an open area of grassland, some thirty feet away from the main road.

The radio sprang to life again, and Arran grabbed it from the dashboard.

"Follow me down, but be careful, it looks steeper than it is," Casey's voice cracked from the device.

Arran manoeuvred the truck towards the bank and then drove, and half slid, down the bank and onto the flat grassy area, the two Mercedes trucks following slowly behind.

With all the vehicles parked up, Arran, Ianto, and Diane got out. Casey was already standing alongside his vehicle, observing the woods through a pair of binoculars. Richard Armstrong, Bruce, and Alicia, the make-up artist, got out of the trucks and walked over to join them.

"Hey! Hello again, guys. It's a great day for an adventure eh?" Alicia said, smiling.

Armstrong strode over. "What's the plan then?"

Casey lowered the binoculars and handed them to Armstrong. "See that large fir tree directly ahead. Just to the left of it there's a small opening. It doesn't look large, but once we're through, it opens up to an old mining route that leads directly up to the side of the mountain. It's a bit bumpy, but we can avoid the military."

Armstrong looked through the binoculars, and after ten seconds or so nodded.

"I see it. I like it," he said, handing the binoculars to Ianto.

Ianto looked through the binoculars in the direction of the large pine tree and noted a natural arch formed by the trees, which opened into a dark space beyond. The route was all but invisible to any vehicles that might pass along the highway.

"Where exactly are we heading?" Ianto asked.

Casey stretched his arms. "Well, we'll be setting up base around mid-point between the camp site where you guys were attacked and the eastern flank of the mountain. It's a remote location, part of a hundred-year-old mining trail. The creature is unlikely to be anywhere near where we're going."

"Well I hope it's not anywhere near the mining trail either!" Diane said.

Ianto felt his smart phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out. Owen's name was displayed on the screen, and the start of a long text message appeared below it.

"Okay guys, let's get a move on," Armstrong said, heading back to the truck. "We'll follow you up."

Casey nodded and headed back over to his Tacoma.

"Don't worry Diane; these guys have enough firepower to stop a small army. Come on, I've just had a text through from Owen," Ianto said, as they followed Arran back to the vehicle.

Arran pulled off after his father, negotiating the vehicle around a fallen tree and proceeding under the low, pine tree canopy, and into the dark woods beyond. The film crew following slowly behind.

Ianto pulled his phone out and opened the text message from Owen.

_**JESUS, IANTO, I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I'VE JUST BEEN TOLD. I CHECKED IN WITH MATT** _ _**OVER AT SETI. HE CONFIRMED THAT A SIGNAL HAS INDEED BEEN DISCOVERED. THE** _ _**SOURCE OF IT APPEARS TO BE A GLACIAL REGION ON THE EASTERN FLANK OF MOUNT** _ _**SHASTKA, NEAR THE COBALT RIDGE GLACIER. THE SIGNAL APPEARS TO TERMINATE ON** _ _**THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON. BUT THERE'S MORE. A SECOND SIGNAL HAS JUST BEEN** _ _**DETECTED CLOSE TO THE POINT AT WHICH THE FIRST SIGNAL TERMINATES, APPARENTLY** _ _**DIRECTED AT THE CONSTELLATION OF CASSIOPEIA, 21 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH. IANTO,** _ _**THIS IS MASSIVE! THIS AND WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU GUYS LAST NIGHT, WHAT THE HELL** _ _**IS GOING ON?!** _

Ianto had to read Owen's message twice to make sure he understood it properly. _This is crazy_. He showed the text to Diane. "Unbelievable, eh? It confirms what Bruce overheard the military saying."

Suddenly, the truck hit something large, jostling them about in the seat.

"Sorry, fallen tree; didn't see it," Arran apologised, slowing down a little.

They continued following Casey along the overgrown track, which was only just wide enough for the vehicles to travel along. Dense pine woods stretched out on either side of the hidden route, blocking out any view from main highway.

Arran's radio squawked to life and he pulled it from the dashboard. It was his father.

"Yep okay Pa, understood," he said, returning the handset.

"We're about two miles past _Pine Crags_ now. There's an old mining hut and mineshaft coming up where an old wooden bridge crosses one of the tributaries of the river. We need to stop and check the integrity of the bridge before proceeding over," he said. Five minutes later, Arran pulled up behind his father's vehicle and cut the engine. They climbed out of the vehicle. A fragrant smell of fresh pine filling the air. The two Mercedes trucks stopped a short distance behind and their engines fell silent, allowing an eerie calm to descend. Just a faint gushing sound from the river a short distance away drifted across and permeated the surrounding woods.

Ianto looked around. To their right was an old steel corrugated hut, overgrown with creepers that rose from the woods floor. Directly ahead he could make out the wooden bridge that traversed the small tributary of the river, the reason they'd all stopped. Casey was already heading towards it.

"Come on, let's take a look," Ianto said, taking Diane's hand.

Arran grabbed his sawn-off shotgun from the front passenger seat and they followed him towards the bridge. When they arrived at the old bridge, Ianto could see the reason for Casey's concern. The old timber that formed the structure of the bridge had badly rotted and was covered in lichen for the most part. A sizeable hole where the timbers had completely perished had formed on the left side of the span, about quarter of the way across. There was no way the Mercedes trucks would get across.

"Any problem?" Richard Armstrong's deep Welsh voice made Ianto and Diane jump.

"Yeah, looks as if we might have to do a bit of repair work," Casey said, checking his watch.

"Well come on then, let's get it sorted," Armstrong replied, looking around them all, and the quiet, dense woods beyond.

Ianto tapped out a message to Tosh, knowing she was monitoring everything through the phone's tech anyway but still needed to let her know they had this sorted.

He did not want company.

They were already too large a team, he knew there would be more bloodshed before this was all over.


	5. the bridge

Two and a half miles southeast of their location, through the woods, an army truck was parked on the side of the mountain highway; its eight occupants had been busy setting up a small temporary guard post together with a lever controlled barrier, which now blocked the route up. Four soldiers were offloading supplies from the rear of the truck; prefabricated sections that would form a small, but solid, and quickly erectable sleeping hut.

Two of the soldiers lit up cigarettes and started inspecting the side of the highway; the other two were still erecting what was about to become a guard post. One of the soldiers, with the name Ed Eastern sewn onto his green and brown woods- camouflaged jacket, pulled his standard issue Iridium Extreme PTT satellite phone from his belt, and tapped in a ten-digit number. The phone connected after five seconds.

"Sir, it's Eastern. Check-point Alpha is secure and up and running. No problems as yet," he confirmed.

He nodded and ended the call. "They're setting up a check point close to the town, so we should be pretty quiet up here. Nobody gets through unless they have direct clearance from Major Grant himself," Eastern confirmed.

The other soldier nodded, adjusted his sunglasses and pulled his M14 from the gun rack.

"No problem Sarge. Let's go and join the guys for a smoke," he said.

.

…

.

.

"That might do it," Casey puffed, as he tied the last piece of rope he had around the most appropriate diameter tree branches the five of them had helped gather from the surrounding area.

"Okay, I think we're just about done," he said, wiping mud from his hands on an old towel he'd taken from his truck.

Ianto checked the time. It was approaching 2.30 p.m., the repair job having taken almost two hours to complete.

"Okay, let's get moving. Dickie, you take the trucks over first so we can keep an eye on the bridge," Casey shouted. "Once we're all over, we follow the winding route through the woods to our camp site. It's about four miles farther up."

"Okay," Armstrong said, heading back over to the truck. "You guys can cross by foot, keep the weight down."

Alicia and the two other members of the film crew; cameraman Doug Scott, and lighting technician John Adams headed back to the trucks. The two fresh-faced guys were in their mid-twenties, and virtually straight out of university. Getting to ride along on this trip was the experience of a lifetime for them.

"Bruce, you can follow me over," he added, as he jumped into the van.

Armstrong pulled the Mercedes up to the flimsy wooden bridge, that must have been constructed using wood from the surrounding woods a hundred years ago, and very carefully edged onto it. Ianto looked on. The drop to the river below was only ten feet or so, but if the thing collapsed, it would be the end of their trip, and the documentary, especially if all the filming and recording equipment ended up in the ravine.

The wooden bridge sections creaked as the heavy truck crept onto the structure. Casey and the others watching as the passenger side wheels rolled over the make-shift repair they'd carried out.

A loud and sudden, _crack,_ emanated from one of the thinner branches as it snapped under the weight of the truck.

"Hold it!" Casey screamed, as he and the others checked to make sure the repair was going to hold. After inspecting the snapped section, Casey waved Armstrong safely over to the other side.

"Nice work, boys and girls," Casey said, a large grin returning to his face for the first time in two hours. Bruce pulled up in the second truck and they waved him over. Casey and Arran then drove the Tacoma's over. The journey thereafter was uneventful, apart from the vehicles having to swerve around the odd item of equipment left over from the route's one-hundred-year-old history as a copper mine. Old lanterns, steel buckets, and even an old, discarded ivy-covered mining cart littered the route. Ianto assumed the tracks it had run on had long since been removed, the steel no doubt recycled into something else, or maybe stolen.

After another ninety minutes of driving up a fairly steep incline, they reached a small, level clearing in the woods. Mount Black rose up out of the pine trees almost directly ahead, its snow covered flanks in stark contrast to the surrounding woods, which stretched out like a verdant expanse to the small town and the valley below.

The three of them jumped out to stretch their legs. As Ianto got out he noticed another old metal shack close to the edge of the woods, thinking it probably concealed the entranced to an old mineshaft. He made a mental note to go and take a closer look later on. The Mercedes trucks nosed up to each other and their engines fell silent a short distance away.

"Are you okay?" he asked Diane, who'd been fairly quiet since they'd left the bridge.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No offence, but I'd just rather be just us. Too much noise, too many bodies," she said, forcing a smile. "The Agency is not gonna like the clean up."

"I know," The excitement of Owen's earlier text message was still fresh in his mind. Nothing else seemed important right now. He was hungry to find out what the hell was going on, and being close to the mysterious signal source overrode anything else.

"Let's just get this done and have a bit of an adventure along the way. We'll be home in no time. The four of us came out here for adventure. We owe it to Conner and Madison to see this through don't we?" he said.

"I guess," Diane said, rolling her eyes.

Armstrong and Bruce started unloading items of film equipment from the back of one of the Mercedes trucks. Ianto watched them unload two movie cameras, complete with tripods, and some lighting equipment, which the brunette, Alicia, carefully lowered onto a flat area of grass. She then went back to the truck and fetched what looked like more film equipment and a couple of small trunks. Casey removed a large hold-all from his truck and unzipped the top. Inside were a number of black radio alarm clock sized devices. He tipped them out on the ground and arranged them in a row, twelve of them in all.

"Guys, can you give me a hand with these," he asked.

"What are they?" Diane enquired.

"Motion sensor detectors. We need to attach them to the trees, say four feet off the ground, at equal distances around the clearing. They will pick up anything of significant size that approaches the camp," he added.

Diane looked at Ianto. "Tosh will be jealous of these, might pay to palm a couple?"

"I seriously can't imagine that thing showing up again, but if it does we've got guns this time to deal with it if necessary," Ianto replied, nodding to show he understood the question while loudly looking like he was calming her for hissing something negative. They made such a good team, something he didn't relay to Jack who was already feeling the burn of being benched for this one.

An hour later and Casey and his son had set up all the motion detectors in a large oval around the small clearing, using the adjustable plastic straps to fix the devices to suitable pine trees surrounding the site.

"Okay, let's record some footage. Ianto and Diane, can you come over here? Alicia will make sure you both look good. It's just a few straightforward questions for the intro," Armstrong said, thrusting a laminated A4 card with a set of questions which had pre-typed responses on it, briefly detailing the events of the night before.

"Are you happy with what's written on the sheets?" he asked them. Ianto studied the questions and responses. There wasn't anything too controversial, just details of their journey, time and details of where they'd set up camp, what they'd seen etc., stuff they'd discussed the evening before.

"No, all looks okay," Ianto said, shrugging at Diane, who nodded her agreement.

"Okay, good. If you guys can stand over here, we'll capture the clearing and the top of the volcano rising from the pine woods. It looks perfect," Armstrong said.

Ianto and Diane did as instructed.

"Let's roll," Armstrong shouted, to Doug and John who were already behind the cameras. Armstrong then moved across them and in front of the camera being managed by John. "This is Richard Armstrong bringing you one of the most exciting editions of, 'The Planets Greatest Mysteries', directly on location in the pine woods of Mount Black, in the Range here in the back County, Beacon Barrens, Wales."

Armstrong then took Ianto and Diane through the questions on the sheet whilst the two cameras rolled. Five minutes later they were done.

"That wasn't too bad was it? You both did well," Armstrong said, nodding at Alicia.

"We'll edit the entire thing back in the shop and you can see the final version before we sign it off," he added.

"Fine," Ianto said, nodding at Diane. It would probably never see the light of day but was a good cover if they were stopped by anyone. Right?

"Okay, let's get our tent pods set up, then we can relax a little, plan the next forty-eight hours that we have up here," Casey shouted from where he was standing by his vehicle.

Forty minutes later, Casey and Arran had set up two robust-looking four-man tent pods, complete with plastic windows and hard plastic doors. They looked almost solid, certainly less flimsy than the tents he and Diane had slept in the night before, but by no means good enough protection against that thing if it decided to return.

"What about you guys?" Casey shouted over to Armstrong, as he slotted the final door into a set of solid plastic-moulded hinges.

"Our accommodation is courtesy of Channel Five. Luxury bunk beds and goose feather quilts in the back of these mothers," Armstrong replied, patting the Merc's hood.

"You think we'd be staying in tents with that bloody Bigfoot roaming around?" Alicia said, grinning.

"Okay, okay, enough idle chitchat," Casey said,

"Let's get dinner on the go. I'm sure everyone's hungry," he added.

It was approaching 6 p.m. by the time they were all seated around the fire, which was now glowing brightly in the middle of the clearing, crackling and popping as the wood burnt.

Ianto sensed a growing feeling of Déjà Vu from the evening before, which he pushed to the back of his mind.

Thirty minutes later, and Alicia started serving everyone some thick, vegetable stew, which she'd been cooking.

"I never knew about your hidden talents," Armstrong said, spooning some of the stew into his mouth.

"Yeah well there's lots you don't know about me. I used to live on a farm remember. My sisters and I often cooked our 'Grampa Johns' stew. Good isn't it?" she said, smugly.

"Fills a hole," Bruce said, smiling, a white cable trailing from one of his ears, the other end of which was plugged into a shoe-box sized device by his side. A large aerial extended out at a forty-five degree angle from it.

"Don't you ever stop eavesdropping," Alicia retorted.

"Someone has to do it."

Alicia forced a smile and raised her middle finger at him.

"So, I know it's not easy for you guys, but can you tell us again exactly what happened two nights ago up here?" Armstrong asked, clicking his fingers at John, who grabbed his handheld video camera from by his side in response.

Ianto cleared his throat, and started recounting the events once again. He knew that this time it was for the benefit of the documentary however, so he was careful not to embellish the story in any way, not that he needed to.

"So I understand that you're a budding physicist and your passion lies in the search for extra-solar planets. What inspired you along this path?" Armstrong asked, in semi-interview mode.

Ianto took a breath and looked up to the darkening sky.

A few pinpricks of light were already visible in the heavens. "Well, my inspiration came from Carl Sagan. He's my hero. It's a shame he died when I was just a ten-year-old kid, but by then I was already hooked on his _Cosmos_ TV series in the U.K. One of his quotes pretty much sums up how I feel; _'The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, it's an awful waste of space.'_

"Cut; cut! Excellent, excellent," Armstrong said, giving Ianto the thumbs up sign.

There was a short silence as everyone appeared to stop and think about what Ianto, or rather Carl Sagan had said. Only the crackle of the campfire as it popped and spat embers of burning wood permeated the clearing. Just as Armstrong was about to speak, a hollow _thud… thud… thud_ sound, as if someone were hitting a large tree with a baseball bat, echoed from somewhere deep in the woods, the source of the sound difficult to determine.

"What the hell was that?" Alicia asked, somewhat alarmed.

"Hopefully, just an overgrown, hungry woodpecker," Bruce shrugged, looking at the others, trying to make light of the noise.

Armstrong surveyed the darkening pine woods. "I was just about to say that I don't mind keeping first watch."

"That's fine by me. It's been a long day," Casey said, using a small sharp twig to pick something from between his teeth.

As they started to clear up, Diane turned to Ianto. "What was that noise?"

"It could be anything. Maybe the military are closer than we think," Ianto shook his head. He was actually thinking back to a documentary he'd seen in the U.K. about Bigfoot hunters. The documentary had shown footage of supposed recordings of what was purportedly the sound of a Bigfoot communicating by using logs to bash against the sides of woods trees. He'd laughed at the suggestion at the time, but now his unease was growing.

The time was approaching midnight, and Ianto and Diane were bedded down in their tent pod. Diane had just checked through the tent pod window for the third time to make sure Armstrong hadn't fallen asleep while on lookout; he hadn't.

"I feel a little safer now I must say," she whispered, snuggling up to Ianto.

"Good, well we should be fine. I know that creature was big but it can't harm us with these guys around."

Ianto's phone suddenly vibrated on the small plastic night table beside the bed, making him jump. He rolled his eyes and reached over to check the screen. A text message had come in from Owen.

Ianto unlocked the phone using his thumb-print and read the message;

_**HI IANTO, HOPE YOU'RE SAFE. JUST THOUGHT YOU'D WANT TO KNOW THAT THE UNITED NATIONS ARE MEETING IANTOORROW IN N.Y. TO DISCUSS THE SIGNAL. THE EVENT WILL BE STREAMED LIVE, SO TRY TO BE CLOSE TO A LAPTOP AT 3 P.M. EASTERN TIME. I'VE ALSO DONE A BIT OF HACKING INTO NASA'S OFF-SITE FILES AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED. IT LOOKS LIKE A RETURN MISSION TO THE MOON IS BEING PREPARED, USING A HIGHLY CLASSIFIED, RECENTLY DEVELOPED, ADVANCED SPACECRAFT. THE MISSION HAS BEEN GIVEN THE CODENAME; ODYSSEY, AND IS SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH AT 20.00, PACIFIC TIME IANTOORROW NIGHT!"** _

Four and a half miles northeast of their camp-site, a large, black, ten-wheeled truck was waved through the military checkpoint. Emblazoned on the truck's side was the SETI symbol; the words spelt with an upside down S, cleverly made to look like a question mark, and set inside a large radio dish, meant to represent the Arecibo – the world's second largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and used by SETI to search for signals from space.

The truck growled on up the mountain road, followed by two smaller white and green camouflage-painted military vehicles.

Inside the truck, Dr Lucy Vernish and Professor George Homer were seated around a small table, effectively what was a small mobile science laboratory in the rear of the large vehicle. A large monitor was fixed to the solid steel wall behind the driving cabin. The mystery signal was clearly displayed on the screen in a linear graph, its source only 3.8 miles distant, and a glacial region of Mount Black known as Cobalt Ridge.

Sitting opposite the SETI scientists was Sergeant Coffey Jordan, a U.S. Military and Homeland Security Advisor, appointed to monitor the unfolding situation.

"Do we really need the military entourage? I mean, we're here to investigate the source of a radio signal, not an alien invasion," Dr Lucy Vernish commented.

Jordan looked over at her. "They're here for your safety. We've no idea what we are dealing with and besides, two people have already gone missing up here in the last forty eight hours, presumed dead. We don't want the contact team of what might well be the greatest ever scientific discovery, being attacked by a rogue grizzly bear or a goddamn Sasquatch, now do we."

Lucy sighed. "I still think it's over the top."

Before Jordan could respond, the three of them were distracted by the glow coming from the monitor. What had been a small red dot on the screen was now pulsating brightly and was increasing in intensity as they neared the glacial region of Cobalt Ridge.

"Come on, let's get ready," Jordan said, his expression serious and deadpan.


	6. time to explore?

A low, repetitive alarm sounded somewhere outside the tent pod, waking Ianto up with a start. He opened his eyes, trying to get his bearings for a moment, realising he must have drifted off to sleep some time ago.

The siren seemed muffled at first, but quickly became clear. Someone or something had set off the perimeter sensors.

He turned to wake Diane, but he didn't need to. She was already sat bolt upright in her sleeping bag, the sound striking a chord of excitement and fear into her as she whispered "What the hell is that?"

"I don't know," Ianto replied, grabbing his fleece jacket and pulling it on over his T-shirt. The alarm stopped momentarily but started sounding again. Ianto cupped his hands against the pod's small plastic window and looked through it. Thirty feet away, a glowing computer screen where Armstrong had been keeping watch caught his attention. He then saw movement outside; it was Casey and Arran rushing over towards the glowing monitor.

"Stay here, you're completely safe. The guys are outside; I'll go and see what's going on. I'll be back shortly," he said to Diane, as he quickly pulled his walking boots on over his thermal leggings. Ianto exited the pod and rushed over to where the guys were huddled over the screen, the perimeter breach alarm was still sounding.

"What's going on?" he asked, in a raised voice, just as the alarm fell silent again.

"We've got multiple breaches of the perimeter. One over on the northeast side and a breach directly ahead," Casey said, pointing towards the dark tree line.

Armstrong was already standing, his automatic rifle trained at the tree line. Ianto strained his eyes, following the line of the rifle.

"Here, take these," Casey said, offering them each what appeared to be a set of night vision goggles he'd just pulled from a large canvas bag.

Ianto grabbed them and pulled them on, Casey and Armstrong did likewise.

As Ianto's eyes adjusted to the green backdrop, he noticed something large, dark, moving quickly just beyond the tree line. Whatever it was, it suddenly stopped. As it did, Ianto was able to focus on the dark shape. It was large and as he watched it, the thing rose up on its two hind legs, its long, canine teeth appearing as a glistening, bright green-white colour through the goggles.

"Jeez, it's a bear," Ianto whispered in amazement.

"It sure is a big mother," Casey said, as he directed his gaze to the same spot of woods.

Armstrong's two cameramen emerged from the dark Mercedes van parked a short distance behind them and walked over, bringing with them one of the film cameras.

"What's up?" John asked.

"Perimeter alarm was triggered. Looks like one of the sensors was tripped by a bear," Armstrong said, lowering the gun to talk to the boys.

"Guys, you do know Bears are extinct in Wales right?" Ianto whispered.

Suddenly, the alarm sounded again, indicating another perimeter breach had occurred. The monitor showed a second red blob at a location some fifty feet farther along from where the bear was positioned.

Ianto swivelled his neck to focus on the spot. Moving quickly, ten feet deep beyond the tree line, were not one, but two large creatures. At first he thought they were more bears, even gorillas. They looked similar, but they were larger.

"Je – sus," Casey said, as he also spotted them.

"Bigfoot, two of them," he uttered, in semi-disbelief.

"I hope you're filming all this," Armstrong said, staring at the events unfolding at the tree line. "Have you boys got the night lens on?"

"Of course boss," John said, directing the camera to where the men were looking.

"What the hell?" he said, as the picked up the creatures closing in on the bear. Ianto watched in disbelief as the two creatures appeared to stalk the bear, which was still standing on its hind legs, presumably attempting to defend itself against the incoming, unknown threat.

The two Bigfoot moved quickly, one along the tree line, the other disappearing deeper into the pine woods as they closed in on the bear.

Thirty seconds later, the creatures attacked, one from the tree line, the other emerging from the depths of the woods, almost like a shark coming up from below. The bear let out a blood-curdling roar as it tried to defend itself against the creatures. One of the Bigfoot appeared to be carrying some kind of long tool that glinted in the moonlight as the creatures started smashing the bear like a pair of thugs beating a helpless kid with a baseball bat. The bear squealed as it tried to escape, but it had no chance. One of the creatures was now on the bear's back strangling it, punching its head with its huge, muscular gorilla-like arms.

Then, with a sickening _crack_ that was audible from where they were standing, the Bigfoot broke the bear's neck. The large brown bear became limp and fell to the ground.

"Jesus Christ, did you get all that?" Armstrong asked the camera guys.

"I…I think so," John stuttered back.

The men all watched in stunned silence through the night vision goggles as the creatures then started to drag the bear deeper into the woods. As Ianto stared at the unfolding spectacle, one of the creatures stopped and looked back into the clearing, and then directly at them. A column of ice raced down Ianto's spine as the thing appeared to stare at them momentarily, as if warning them not to follow, before it re-joined its mate, who was pulling the bear deeper into the woods and out of sight.

"That was freaking unbelievable!" Ianto said, lowering his goggles.

Casey shook his head as he added. "Seeing one Bigfoot, maybe I thought there was a chance, but seeing two attacking a bear. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd live to see that."

"Having just one of us stand guard is clearly not an option. What if there are more than two of them? Three… maybe four? We might be out of our depth here," Armstrong said, clearly rattled at what he'd seen.

Ianto heard Diane' voice and he spun around. "What's going on? I thought you were coming back to the pod."

"You'd better take Diane back to the pod. We'll stay up and keep watch. You lot go get some rest. Arran and I will keep watch until dawn," Casey said, as he pulled out a box of ammunition from the canvas bag.

"Is everything all right?" Diane asked, anxiously.

"Come on. It's still only four a.m. Let's get back to bed. It was a false alarm," Ianto said, as he led Diane back towards their pod.

"Be out here for breakfast at seven a.m. sharp for a debriefing" Casey added.

Ianto walked Diane back to the pod, still trying to process what he'd just witnessed. He'd wait till the morning to tell Diane. They were probably monitoring them now, the reality setting in as he mentally composed the encrypted message to send to Tosh … and Jack.

Three hours later, after a restless two and bit hours of sleep, Ianto woke Diane to tell her what had happened during the early hours of the morning. He couldn't keep it from her any longer and clearly the others had stopped watching the tent. She sat there, slowly shaking her head in stunned silence as he sent the messages away for help.

"I just knew that it was a stupid reckless idea to come back here," she finally said. "We have to do this, right?"

"Look, I know it's bloody weird and scary, and we both knew deep down that it wasn't just a bear that attacked us back at the camp site. What I saw earlier verifies that. This entire thing is just unreal; the signal, everything that's going on here. But just think about it. We have two guys with high-powered automatic weapons. There's no way the creatures will attack us once those weapons are fired. I'm convinced we're pretty safe. I wouldn't risk our lives on this and besides, we owe it to Conner and Madison to do this. Try to find out what the hell is going on and where those things come from?" he said. "We were sent here for a reason and I have never….NEVER left a file open."

Diane dropped her head. "Tosh is signalling back… something about a…ribbon?"

"Ribbon?" Ianto groaned then looked at his own phone, Jack's message clearer to him. "Rift. He thinks there is some portal or something punching through time and space ... connecting either different time periods or dimensions. Looks like they are talking it over between them … good. He will calm her down and stop her from sending in more hopefully."

"So ... your bears really are Cave Bears… beamed here or whatever?" Diane surmised.

"And the other things come from the same place. Might explain why Cave Bears died out?" Ianto supposed.

Diane gave Ianto a long hug and the pair of them joined the others outside who were all seated around where the fire had been burning the night before. A much smaller fire was now warming a pot of water to make some tea and coffee. A pot of beans was also warming alongside the tin kettle. Casey and Arran were chatting together, still gripping their weapons; clearly neither of them had yet been to bed.

"Morning. Did you tell Diane what happened last night?" Casey asked.

Ianto nodded. "Yep of course; she's ok. Tough chick this one!"

Casey nodded. "Good. Listen, we'll have some breakfast and then go and scout the perimeter, check the sensors and see if we can find anything. Then we will all walk to the signal site. It's only about a mile or so due northeast from here. We'll get back to this spot by mid afternoon and set off before nightfall. How's that sound? Dickie can finish shooting his documentary and we can all return with the knowledge that Bigfoot isn't just a figment of people's imagination. We have definite proof of that now. What we have on film will astound the scientific world that's for sure. We will be safe tonight, out of the woods."

Everyone looked relieved.

"I'm happy with that. Okay with you guys?" Armstrong said, looking at his team for agreement.

"Bloody right boss. After watching what happened last night, I'm happy to get the hell off this weird mountain," Alicia said, stirring the pot of beans.

"Okay good. We're all in agreement then. What we already have on film will be worth a small fortune. Large bonuses for you all, I promise," Armstrong said, patting one of the cameras.

"Better be!" Alicia said, as they all finished breakfast. The coffee tasted good, and Ianto suddenly felt awake again. His mind was spinning as he tried to grasp what he'd seen last night, whilst wrestling with the bigger mystery of the signal that had been detected by SETI.

"Okay, Arran, you stay here and guard the camp, Dickie, John, and Ianto will come with me and go take a look at the perimeter," Casey said, looking out through a set of binoculars at the tree line, some fifty feet distant. Aaron nodded. "Go for it, Pa. We'll be fine here."

"Don't venture too far," Diane said to Ianto, as he stood up.

"It'll be fine. I very much doubt those things are around during the day," Ianto said. The four of them walked slowly to the tree line, John holding a large movie camera which he carried on his shoulder, filming everything as they proceeded into the pine woods.

"This looks like the spot where the attack took place," Casey said, pointing to the ground as they reached a point around ten feet in. On the woods floor was what appeared to be a dark patch of earth. A little farther along, they came across a blood-soaked fallen tree trunk. A layer of pine needles on the ground close by were also coated in blood.

"Okay, let's keep our wits about us and our eyes peeled. I'm sure those things are long gone, but let's just be careful," Casey said, as they proceeded deeper into the woods, following a bloodied, four-foot wide trail that had left by the dying, bear as it had been dragged deeper into the woods.

Around thirty feet into the woods, the bloody scuff marks appeared to end at a fallen tree. As the four of them negotiated the obstacle, Ianto spotted something on the woods floor a short distance away. A low hum was also evident, flies swarming on what appeared to be one of the bear's severed arms, ripped clean from its body.

"Jeez, those things are damn strong to have done that," Casey said, his eyes darting between the dismembered arm and the dense woods surrounding them.

Armstrong turned to John. "Okay, let's get some footage. I'll introduce the scene, then you pan down to the severed arm," he whispered, nervously.

Armstrong started talking, as Alicia filmed, confirming what they'd all seen last night and their current location on the mountain.

Ianto surveyed the surrounding woods, he was feeling uneasy despite the weapons they had with them. He felt as if they were being watched. As Armstrong continued talking into the camera, Ianto noticed a shaft of sunlight penetrating the tree canopy from above, which was reflecting off something lying on the woods floor, some fifteen feet away. The object appeared to be metallic, and was long and narrow.

Ianto raised the binoculars to his face to get a better look. _That's curious_ , he thought, as he stared at the object.

"What's up?" Casey's voice made him jump.

"There's something on the ground over there. Looks very odd," Ianto said, pointing.

Ianto and Casey made their way over to the object, which was half buried under foliage, pine needles, and creepers. It looked completely out of place lying on the woods floor.

"What the hell is it?" Casey asked, looking down.

Ianto knelt and brushed away some of the pine needles. The object was about the length of a harpoon gun, similar in appearance, save for the fact there was no actual harpoon attached to it. It was constructed from a curious material, metallic, like tungsten. Ianto touched what looked like the handle end. It felt cool and almost soft to the touch, like a hard gel. It felt very strange. He pulled it from the foliage. The object felt lighter than its size would suggest, as if it were made from wood, not metal. And another odd quality, Ianto realised, was that at some angles the object appeared to be translucent. _Weird, very weird_ , Ianto thought, as a shiver ran down his spine.

"Military you think?" Casey said.

"I've really no idea. It looks like a harpoon gun, but not one from this time and place," Ianto added, as he picked the object up off the ground.

"What are you talking about? You're saying it's from the future?" Casey said, grinning.

"Is everything all right?" Armstrong shouted over from the spot where the bear's arm lay.

"We're coming now. We've found something very odd. Get the camera rolling," Casey said, as they headed over.

Ianto thought about Casey's comment as he hurried back towards the clearing, the handle end of the object feeling as if it were slowly moulding itself to his grip.

The sun had just started to dip behind the pine trees leaving a distinct chill filling the air as Casey struck a match to light the tinder under the pile of wood he'd assembled.

"Have you figured out what that thing is yet?" he asked Ianto, raising his voice above the sound of the crackling wood.

Ianto shook his head. "No idea. It looks like a weapon of some kind, but you've studied it, there are no buttons or trigger on it that I can see. I've taken a photo and sent it on to my friend Owen. He might come up with something," Ianto said. Not mentioning that Tosh was also looking into it.

Alicia, Armstrong, and Arron were grouped together a short distance away, at the edge of the pine woods. Armstrong wanted some atmospheric footage for the documentary, having earlier filmed and speculated with the group over what the mystery harpoon-like object might be. It was all perfect material for the documentary.

Bruce was on his computer doing some research on the mountain, specifically the old mineshafts dotted around the area.

"Hmm, this is interesting According to this article, some of these mineshafts extend right up under the mountain. Could be a good addition to the documentary if nothing else," he said, looking up from his laptop, half to himself.

Ianto turned his head to study the tin shack at the edge of the clearing they'd passed yesterday. He'd forgotten about it after the excitement of finding the strange object in the woods.

"Well, let's go check it out," he said, carefully placing the harpoon-like object on a towel he'd laid on the grass.

"You coming?" he asked Diane.

"Yeah, I guess," she said with fake annoyance, getting up. She was relieved that they might finally be getting onto something like a trail. Didn't feel good to be the Hunted.

Ianto grabbed the small flashlight, and he and Diane wandered over to the edge of woods near to the narrow track they'd driven up yesterday. The light was beginning to fade, and the woods were looking dark and unsettling either side of the route.

The shack was a simple construction, made from corrugated steel sheeting that formed the roof and sides, which was riveted over thick wood and steel beams. The entire thing was built against the side of what looked like a solid area of rock that protruded up from the ground. The sides and roof were now covered in vines and undergrowth, concealing the entire construction quite nicely. There was no door, just a dark void that disappeared into the mine shaft.

"I'm not bloody going in there," Diane protested as they reached the shack. "You know my thing about the dark!"

"Hmm, it looks a bit creepy, I grant you," Ianto said.

"Looks like the entrance to the Ghost Train ride, but worse," she said.

"Stay there, I just want to take a look inside. Don't worry, I'm not going into the mineshaft," Ianto said, turning the flashlight on.

Ianto entered the shack, which was around eight feet square and panned the interior with the flashlight. Over in the far right corner he saw a wooden table, on top of which sat two old lanterns and an old, rusty tin. A few oily rags hung from rusted hooks on the opposite corner.

Directly ahead, Ianto could see the mineshaft, hewn from solid rock, which descended and disappeared off to the left at a gentle angle in the direction of the mountain. There were ancient, rusted hand rails bolted to the sides of the shaft, and a well-worn narrow gauge track embedded in the ground, leading into the mine. Ianto shone the flashlight into the dark tunnel, the beam of light from his torch casting weird shadows against the tunnel walls, created by the jagged, rough rock. He was just about to turn and leave when the beam of light washed over something on the ground, just where the tunnel bent to the left.

"There's something in the tunnel, Diane, just a short distance away. I'm going to go in and take a look," Ianto said, turning towards Diane whose grey, shadowy figure was barely visible standing just outside the entrance to the mine. He was pleased to see a firearm I her hand, guarding the entrance for him. Good girl.

Ianto carefully walked the twenty-five feet to reach the object, which appeared to be an old wooden casket the size of a cooler box. He reached down and grabbed the side handles, which creaked as he pulled on them. As he did, he felt his wrist brush against a thick, spider's web. He yanked the casket up off the ground and walked briskly towards the light, where Diane was waiting for him. Ianto emerged from the dark tunnel and dropped the weighty casket onto the ground just outside the shack. As he did, Diane screamed.

"Jesus Christ, Ianto, you've got a freaking massive spider on your shoulder."


	7. going down

Ianto didn't see himself as squeamish, but didn't like the thought of a spider being anywhere near him either.

Especially one he couldn't see. He shrieked in response to Diane' comment and jumped up and down in an attempt to shake the critter off him. Ianto felt what could only have been one of the spider's legs tickle his neck. He freaked out, yanked his jumper and T-Shirt off, and started cursing.

Bruce and Doug came running over from the fire.

"What the hell is going on?" Bruce shouted.

"Ianto went into the mine and came out with a bloody huge spider on his shoulder," Diane shrieked.

"Calm down, buddy. There's nothing on you now," Doug said, reassuring Ianto.

Ianto's jumper was lying on the ground a short distance away. As Ianto went to retrieve it, a saucer-sized black spider scuttled off into the undergrowth.

The four of them watched it leave.

"Hmm, I think you'd have been ok," Doug shrugged. "That was a Lampshade spider. It looks gruesome, but is fairly harmless!"

"Come face to face with a Bigfoot but freak out over a spider!" John, who'd come over to see what was going on, teased.

Ianto shook his head and took in a deep breath of air.

"Stop arsing around and help me with this chest; let's take it over to the camp," he said, grabbing his shirt and jumper from the ground.

Doug grabbed one end of the casket, Ianto the other and they walked it over to the camp-fire. Armstrong and his film crew were just heading back from filming a scene at the edge of the woods.

"What have you found?" he asked Ianto, intrigued.

"A casket of some kind. It was in the old mineshaft. I'm just about to open it," Ianto said.

"Okay hold on, let's film it being opened," Armstrong said, clicking his fingers at John.

Ianto waited for John to run over with the camera to start filming, before flipping up the heavy central clasp that was holding the lid of the casket in place.

Ianto lifted the lid, which creaked open.

"It's empty?" Armstrong bellowed, disappointed.

"Not quite. There's something here," Ianto said, pulling out an old, worn yellow piece of parchment that wasn't immediately visible.

"Oh, wow, it's a treasure map!" Alicia said, suddenly interested.

Ianto carefully opened the piece of parchment which had been folded into eight sections.

"It's definitely some kind of map," he said.

"Are you serious?" Alicia said, glancing over Ianto's shoulder to get a better look.

With the parchment unfolded and laid out on the ground, the group could see what was clearly a drawing of Mount Black marked in faded ink. Leading inwards were numerous routes, presumably the mineshafts that were dotted around the area. One of the routes on the map ended in what appeared to be a large, underground cavern. The scale on the map suggested it was around half a mile from their current location.

"That's very interesting," Bruce said, bringing his laptop over and comparing the image he had on screen with the unfolded piece of parchment. On the laptop screen was a similar plan of the mine system. It showed more or less the same routes. The only thing that was different was on the actual parchment, which showed the cavern feature.

"Check this out," Bruce said, enthusiastically. "See this shaft here. It meets another shaft a hundred feet along, which seems to lead to this cavern feature on the parchment."

He paused before speaking again. "You know what I'm thinking?"

Ianto was thinking the same thing, but surely it would be too coincidental?

"You're not thinking this cavern area could be close to where the signal is emanating from?" Ianto suggested.

"Well it has to be pretty close. We have the coordinates. Check this out," Bruce said, as he punched the keyboard. "I've overlaid the signal source graphic onto the map of the tunnels and look," he said, pointing.

Ianto studied the screen. He found their current location, indicated by a blue dot that Bruce had cleverly overlaid onto the map using the I-Pad's satellite app. The mineshaft behind them was visible, as was another longer shaft that intersected it, and continued on to the cavern shown on the old parchment.

"Okay that's enough for now," Armstrong said, to John who'd been filming since Ianto opened the casket.

The fire popped behind them, just as an owl hooted from somewhere deep in the woods.

"Okay who's up for some hot dogs?" Alicia shouted over from the fire.

"Ah, perfect timing. I'll crack open some Merlot," Armstrong said, heading over to one of the trucks.

Ianto and Diane walked over to the fire and each grabbed a hotdog from Alicia. As they all sat eating around the fire, Armstrong asked, "So, guys, I know it's tempting to check the mineshaft out, but my preference is to head to the signal area overland. The film crew have no option. We're not insured for any underground filming, and those shafts are ancient. There's no way we can guarantee anyone's safety."

Diane rolled her eyes. "Some common sense at last!"

"If we leave for Cobalt Ridge at first light, we can be back in town before dark. How's that?"

"Thank god for that," Diane replied.

Embers popped from the fire and landed on Alicia's knee.

"Shit!" she screamed, quickly brushing them off.

As silence descended once again, Ianto felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out. There was a message waiting from Owen. He opened it up and slowly read the text, then read it again to make sure he'd digested it correctly.

_**I CARRIED OUT A SEARCH UNDER VARIOUS PHRASES 'PERSONAL WEAPON', 'UNUSUAL WEAPON', 'ANCIENT WEAPON', AND 'ADVANCED WEAPON', UNDER THE CATEGORIES OF 'SPEAR', 'SWORD', AND 'GUN', IN ALL THE USUAL DATA BASES, BOTH ACTUAL, MYTHOLOGICAL AND LEGENDARY AND THIS IS THE CLOSEST MATCH - THE PREFERRED WEAPON OF NINURTA WHO IS THE SUMERIAN AND AKKADIAN HERO-GOD OF WAR AND HUNTING. MAKES NO SENSE TO ME, BUT IT'S WHAT THE SYSTEM IS THROWING BACK AT ME.** _

Ianto frowned. It had to be an error. What on earth would an ancient mythological weapon be doing lying on the ground in Mount Black's Trinity National Park?

Nothing made sense.

"That a message from Owen?" Casey asked.

Ianto slowly nodded his head. "Yep, but you're not going to believe what it says."

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.

Casey threw more thick branches onto the fire to keep it going, the flames quickly starting to dance higher in response.

Ianto had spent the last hour hunched over the laptop, searching for any relevant information on _Ninurta_ and links to the Sumerians and the Weapon of Legend, however there wasn't much else to be found. He stretched and was about to close the laptop when a low, distant rumble, more of a growl, emanated from the woods, somewhere off to their right, on the eastern side.

"What the hell was that?" Casey said, leaving the fire and grabbing his rifle, which was standing up against one of the camera tripods. He raised it to his shoulder in order to use the night vision scope to scan the dark woods.

"Oh Jesus, those creatures are coming back to get us," Diane said.

"Well, we are at the base an active volcano. It could be some seismic activity. Maybe Black's waking up?" Ianto suggested.

"I bloody hope not. I can't see anything," Casey called out, as he continued panning the eastern edge of the woods.

The sound briefly drifted out of the woods again, carried on the evening breeze.

"I don't like this one bit," Casey said, as Armstrong grabbed a set of night vision goggles from the small table and joined him, while he continued panning the woods with the night vision scope on his rifle.

"Something's not right. It doesn't sound like seismic activity. Come on, let's get our backpacks," Ianto whispered to Diane," as he grabbed the object they'd found in the woods and ran with her to their tent pod.

They quickly packed the few items they had into their backpacks before re-joining the team, who were all standing nervously by the crackling fire, which was the only sound that could now be heard.

"I think I just saw something," Casey said, nodding his head towards an area of woods over to the right. Armstrong, who still had the night vision goggles pressed to his face, panned over to the location.

"Shit!" he suddenly spat out, after a few short seconds. "You're right, we've got company."

"We sure have, but not the sort we want. It's the military," Casey growled.

Armstrong turned to Ianto and shouted. "There's no time. I know you want to explore the mines, and now's your chance. Take the small video camera and go!"

"I'm coming with you," Bruce said, folding his laptop and stuffing it in its carrier case.

"Well you're not going to leave me alone!" Diane said, looking at Ianto.

"Of course not, let's go, quick!" Ianto agreed, holding out his hand.

Diane grabbed Ianto's hand, and the three of them sprinted for the entrance to the mineshaft, just as a vehicle's bright neon headlights punched through the edge of the woods, followed by the sound of its powerful engine.

Ianto turned on the flashlight as the three of them ran into the mineshaft. From the clearing outside, a mechanical, amplified voice echoed into the shaft. "This is the United Nations Military. Put down your weapons and stand still or you will be shot."

The three of them continued around the left hand bend of the shaft where Ianto had found the chest earlier. The beam of light from the torch bounced off the walls and roof of the mine as they ran, revealing thick, wooden support beams covered in lichen and cobwebs. After a minute, and with the immediate threat of the military finding them receding, the three of them stopped, panting rapidly to catch their breath.

"Jesus Christ that was close. What a total disaster," Ianto gasped, brushing a cobweb from his forehead.

"We're going to end up in serious trouble if we get caught now," Diane whispered between breaths.

"Well, we don't plan on doing that now, do we?" Bruce replied, rolling his eyes.

"Come on; let's continue as we can't go back now. I'm sure Armstrong will think of something to say to get out of the crap they're in. The mystery signal and all the other weird stuff going on here is too important to ignore. There's a cover-up I'm sure, especially as the military are involved," Ianto said.

"Damn right there. It's like one of those old sci-fi B movies from the 1950s. _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ , or _The Blob_ ," Bruce said.

"That was a classic. Steve McQueen, before he was a movie star," Ianto replied.

"Yeah that's right."

"I loved _Them_ ," Ianto's voice echoed along the mineshaft.

" _Them_ , Damn I'd forgotten about that movie; giant ants take over L.A right? That was a classic."

"Can you guys shut the hell up? I'm scared shitless as it is without you two talking about stupid sci-fi movies," Diane interrupted.

"Sorry Diane. Here, you can do some filming of your own," Ianto said, handing Bruce the movie camera.

The three of them continued along the mine, Ianto's flashlight casting eerie shadows as the beam of light swept the shaft ahead of them, bouncing off the solid rock walls and timber roof beams used to strengthen the mineshaft.

The air temperature was becoming noticeably colder as they proceeded deeper into the mine and moved towards the glacial area at the base of Mount Black.

.

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.

.

Two miles northwest of their location, the black SETI truck, accompanied by two military Humvees, pulled off the main mountain road onto a snow-covered track, which lay above the tree line, just beneath Mount Black's eastern face. An old weathered, wooden sign, leaning at a jaunty angle pointed the way to _Cobalt Ridge Glacier_ , the apparent source of the mystery signal.

Inside the vehicle, Dr Lucy Vernish stared at the monitor and the glowing blue dot, which was hovering over a location just 600 feet away from their current position.

"I can't believe this is actually happening. I mean the signal, it has to be genuine. The data can't be wrong," Lucy gushed, her heart starting to race with excitement.

The truck rumbled on, its spiked, winter ice tyres gripping into the narrow icy track, which was becoming increasingly treacherous the higher up the eastern side of the volcano they drove.

"So what do you guys figure this signal really is? I mean, if it's genuine, surely we need to be concerned about it?" Jordan asked.

Lucy didn't respond to Jordan's question for a few seconds, still engrossed in the readings on the monitor in front of her, making him repeat the question.

"Oh, sorry, well that's a reasonable question. Yes and no," Lucy replied. "I mean, if the signal is genuine and actually comes from an alien civilisation, then it's truly the most significant scientific discovery we could ever make. It could change everything. Our understanding of our place in the universe, humankind's origins, and who we really are as a species, perhaps even who created us. I mean the ramifications of this are mind-boggling."

"What if whoever is sending this signal has hostile intent?" Jordan asked.

"Well, to be frank that's highly unlikely. Any advanced intelligence could annihilate us in a second if it wanted to, probably without any warning, or us even realising it had happened," Professor Homer said.

"That's true. Any civilisation advanced enough to make contact indicates they are benevolent enough not to have destroyed themselves, or indeed to have any intention of destroying us."

"I'd prefer to trust my instinct on that theory. A signal that emanates from a glacier on earth, and terminates somewhere in the Cassiopeia Star System, via the Moon, either has to be a hoax, or something to be very wary of in my book," Jordan said.

"Why, that's your job isn't it, to be wary? That's why the Military is involved in all this. Trust nobody; be suspicious of everybody, and fingers on the trigger of whatever killing machines you possess, ready to blast anything you think is a threat to kingdom come. Let's face it, during the last fifty years its pure luck the United States and Russia haven't destroyed this planet many times over," Lucy said, with disdain.

Jordan said nothing.

The truck slowed and took a sharp right turn, climbing farther up the mountain pass.

"According to the monitor, we are now only two hundred feet away from the source," Lucy exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement.

Jordan's radio sprang to life with a burst of static.

"Yes sir, will do. Over and out," he said, after a short pause.

"Don't tell us. We won't be able to see the location until you guys have secured the area?" Lucy said.

"It's just a precaution and for your own safety ma'am. You need to stay in the truck until I advise you further."

The truck slowed, and after a minute came to a halt on a flat ridge of ice, at the edge of the tree line. The two Humvees that had been following pulled to a stop alongside, their powerful, diesel engines falling silent seconds later.

Lucy started to feel nervous as she glanced at the screen in front of her, the glowing blue dot right upon them. The ground- penetrating radar fitted to the SETI vehicle confirming the exact location of the signal was around thirty feet due west from their location and some fifteen feet beneath the glacial ice. The thought that the signal really could be alien in nature sent a shiver down her spine. She had to admit, it was a little odd the source was coming from under a glacial area of a mountain. It made little sense. Jordan grabbed his M14, checked the magazine to ensure it was loaded, and opened the back of the vehicle before jumping down to the ground. A freezing gust of air blew into the truck as he slammed the door shut again.

Lucy shivered and rubbed her arms in response to the sudden blast of cold air.

"Come on, let's get kitted up," she said, finishing the dregs of the coffee she'd been drinking.

Professor Homer got up from the desk and grabbed the two parkas that were hanging in the corner, passed one to Lucy, then walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a portable, depth- penetrating radar device. "Have you considered what we're going to do if we can't get to whatever is emitting the signal?"

Lucy zipped up her parka

"Yep, we're going to melt our way down to it," she said, winking at him.


	8. frying pan or fire

They had been walking through the mineshaft for half an hour, with the temperature dropping noticeably as they travelled farther in. A damp, almost mouldy smell hung in the air. Diane shivered as she walked, staying as close as she could to Ianto.

"I wonder what's happened to the others. It's just a matter of time before the army come after us you know. At least it will be the end of this crazy adventure when they do," she said, her voice echoing in the dark tunnel.

Ianto checked his mobile phone. As expected, there was no signal, and no further messages from Owen. The mineshaft started to curve around to the right and appeared to be rising ever so slightly to the surface. The passage's rocky walls, blasted through the solid bedrock had more and more patches of green moss or lichen covering them. A distinct trickle of running water could be heard coming from somewhere up ahead, no doubt melting glacial ice from above.

"Careful, it's becoming a bit slippery," Ianto warned, as he felt his boots lose purchase on the ground.

The three of them continued on in silence for another forty feet, when Bruce suddenly froze in his tracks.

"What the hell?" he said, staring at Ianto.

"What's up?" Ianto asked, stopping as he saw the shocked look on Bruce's face. As he spoke, he realised what Bruce was referring to. An eerie, ultra-violet hue filled the tunnel, bathing the three of them, and the immediate space around them in a warm purple/blue glow.

"Jesus Christ," Ianto shouted, discarding his backpack, together with the harpoon-like object, the source of the light. His backpack fell to the ground, the ultra violet light emanating from the device glowing brighter, bathing the tunnel twenty feet either side of them in an intense violet light.

"Are you okay?" Diane asked.

"Yep, fine, I didn't feel anything," Ianto replied, aghast, as the three of them backed away from the backpack, shielding their eyes from the light as they did.

"Is it going to explode?" Diane screamed, gripping Ianto's hand as if it were a stress ball.

"I've no idea. It's fucking weird, man," Ianto said, using language he rarely let slip past his lips. Before any of them had a chance to speak further, the glow coming from the object started to fade, until all that was left was a purple halo around the device, making it look like a cheap child's toy.

"Is it safe?" Diane whispered.

"No idea, but it hasn't exploded," Ianto replied, his voice barely audible. "Stay put. I'm going to have a closer look."

Bruce remembered he was holding the video camera and quickly turned it on to start filming the strange event. Ianto crouched by his backpack, and shielding his eyes with one arm, in case it started glowing intensely again, placed his left hand over his backpack and the harpoon that was strapped to the outside.

"It still feels a little warm," he whispered. He took a deep breath and quickly touched the handle end of the object with his finger. It felt okay, not hot.

Ianto stared at the object as the ultra-violet glow continued to slowly fade until the glow was barely noticeable and the tunnel was in darkness again.

"That was extraordinary," he whispered, realising that whatever the object was, it was beyond their current level of comprehension. Could it be some kind of top secret, Military advanced weapon or something even more sinister? He wondered. Surely they weren't looking at alien technology? He pushed the absurd thought to the back of his mind and reached out for his backpack.

"Well, it doesn't appear to be a threat," he said, pulling the pack, along with the strange device, back onto his back.

"Come on, let's move on, and see if we can find the cavern shown on the old map. I've a feeling there might be more than just a pile of gold stashed there," he said.

"It's a good job I've got this video camera. Nobody would believe what just happened if I hadn't caught that on film," Bruce said.

"And that's a good thing?" Diane added, as the three of them set off again along the tunnel.

.

.

.

.

five hundred feet behind them, out in the clearing in the pine woods, the major finished finger printing and scanning the retinas of Armstrong's film crew. Casey had already been cuffed and placed in the army Humvee for pissing the general off and was now under military detention, whatever that meant. Arran's protest had fallen on deaf ears and he'd had to bite his lip for fear of ending up in the same position as his father. Armstrong had told his team to say as little as possible, but to cooperate. He'd shown the general his credentials, visa, and Channel Five journalist pass, which, as he'd hoped, had afforded him and his team some latitude. At least the M14's had been lowered and they didn't feel under immediate threat any more.

"Right, my men will be driving your vehicles and equipment out of here and back to Alpha Base, where a military unit will meet us and take you back down into Black for debriefing. Do you understand?"

Armstrong nodded.

"Come on, guys, let's do as the general asks," he said, winking at Alicia.

The general eyed them cautiously as they each got into the Humvee. As Armstrong pulled himself in, he noticed a flash of light deep in the pine woods. The sun's fading rays glinting off something shiny, he wondered, or were his eyes playing tricks on him? He was exhausted after all. He sat down next to Alicia and felt a jolt as the Humvee jerked out of a rut it had been parked in, and turned in a wide arc in the clearing to head back down the mountain track they'd travelled up earlier.

"You okay?" Armstrong asked Alicia, over the growl of the Humvee's powerful V8 diesel engine as it negotiated the narrow track out of the clearing.

"Yes, boss," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Wasn't banking on this shit though," she added.

"Me neither. I'm really sorry. We've enough incredible footage to cobble together an amazing documentary though."

"What if they confiscate our equipment? They're bound to after all."

"Don't worry, it's secure and already downloaded," Armstrong said, winking, just as the Humvee hit another rut, jostling them all in their seats. John and Doug were seated opposite and looked scared. They'd not said much since the military unit had emerged from the woods.

"Don't worry boys. We'll be okay. They can't do much to us. We'll be home before you can say _Yeti_ ," Armstrong said, trying to make light of their situation.

"Ha, bloody ha," John replied, forcing a smile.

"Assholes," Arran muttered.

Armstrong looked out the small window into the darkening woods, wondering where Ianto and the others were. Had they found the cavern shown on the map? As he looked into the woods, he thought he saw some movement, and caught a glimpse of a flash of light again.

What the hell was it?

"Did you just see that?" he asked Alicia and the boys. "Outside; I just saw a flash of light. I saw the same thing as I got into the vehicle."

"No," Alicia said, craning her neck to look out the window.

The Humvee started to slow down. A crackled voice filtered through from the cabin. "… blocked. Fallen trees, manoeuvring around…"

Armstrong looked at Alicia. "Odd, we didn't have the same problem on the way up yesterday."

"Something's not right, boss, I'm scared," Alicia whispered.

The Humvee's engine changed pitch as it carefully turned off the track into the woods, and through a natural clearing in the pine trees, following the vehicle in front.

As they drove into the trees, Armstrong caught a glimpse of the huge Douglas-fir tree blocking the route, with its trunk literally snapped at the base, huge splinters of healthy tree clearly visible.

The lead vehicle drove in a wide arc, passing the fallen tree, before started to turn back towards the dirt track, slowly manoeuvring in between the large pine trees.

"We're heading back onto the track," Armstrong said, just as there was a loud _crack_ from outside, followed by a _thud_ as the Humvee in front literally vanished from view.

The vehicle they were travelling in jerked to a halt.

"What the fuck?" one of the military guys in the front shouted.

Armstrong leant over Alicia to try to get a better look out the side window, but all he could see was a cloud of dust and the ends of what appeared to be tree trunks jutting out at various angles where the front Humvee had been moments earlier. The route down the mountain where the tree canopy wasn't so thick was still fairly light, but the woods either side was dark, the sun's fading rays unable to penetrate it.

"Okay, stay put you lot. We're going to find out what's going on," a voice ordered from the front cabin over the communication system. The two military guys got out, M14 Carbines gripped in their hands, and slowly walked towards where the Humvee had disappeared from sight.

The five of them could just about see what was going on through the side window, the vehicle's headlights lighting up the woods around them.

The two military men came to a stop, just fifteen feet ahead and appeared to be looking down into some kind of hole that had opened up. _Could it be some kind of mud slide, or sink hole?_ Armstrong wondered. He'd heard a lot about sink holes on the news and was going to do a documentary on them. Holes that just opened up in the ground due to the collapse of the surface layer, swallowing whatever was on top. Buildings and even people's houses had been gobbled up by them.

Armstrong grabbed his binoculars and raised them to his face to take a closer look. He could instantly tell that this was no sinkhole. There were tree trunks and healthy pine tree branches, clearly recently torn from the surrounding trees, sticking out at various angles from what was clearly some kind of man-made, or at least purposely dug pit, which the Humvee had clearly fallen into.

"It's a trap. We need to get out of here," he said, putting the binoculars back in his jacket pocket. "It looks like the Humvee has fallen into a pit."

"You're kidding?" Alicia said, her hands shaking.

As Armstrong went to get out, one of the military men appeared at the door.

"You stay put. We have an incident up ahead. We need to pass a rope down to our colleagues. Vehicle seems to have fallen into a sink hole," he growled.

The second military guy walked around to the back of the Humvee and disappeared from view, reappearing thirty seconds later with a thick length of rope over his shoulder.

He moved to the front of the Humvee and knelt.

Armstrong guessing he must be tethering one end of the rope to the front of the vehicle somewhere. Both men then proceeded back to the pit and threw the other end of the rope in.

Armstrong could see the men looked concerned, scanning the woods, their M14's levelled, as if ready to engage a target.

Within a minute or so, the four of them watched from the vehicle as the first man emerged from the pit.

Armstrong grabbed his binoculars again and could see the man had a nasty and bloodied gash to his head. He was pointing into the woods, and then back down towards the pit. A second man climbed up, collapsing onto the ground as he tried to stand.

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of violet light lit up the dark woods over to their right. And then, as if they were staring in their own science fiction movie, a laser-like strip of light streaked out from the woods where the bright glow had been, striking the four military men who were standing at the edge of the pit. Armstrong and the other three watched in stunned silence as the men briefly glowed a bright purple-violet, before vanishing in a puff of dust, as if they had been vaporised.

"Oh Jesus, what the fuck is going on?" Alicia shrieked.

"Come on; let's get the hell out of here. Quick, run. Run, back to the campsite," Armstrong ordered.

they ran back up the woods track towards the campsite without looking back. They had no idea what had just happened, and didn't want to know. Before fleeing, Armstrong had spotted a spare M14 auIantoatic weapon in the front of the Humvee, together with a radio, and had grabbed both.

The four of them reached the clearing after five minutes of running and collapsed onto the grass bank to catch their breath, close to where the fire was still smouldering.

"What the hell just happened, boss?" Alicia asked, as she drew in large gulps of air.

"I've no idea. I saw movement in the woods just before the flashes of light, but couldn't make anything out. It was too dark."

"You mean lasers. I saw them. They were bloody laser beams!" Doug shouted, his eyes wide with fear.

"That's what they looked like to me too," John agreed.

Armstrong shook his head. "None of this makes much sense, we need to get off this damn mountain, but we can't leave Bruce and the others up here, so this is what we're going to do –"

Before he could continue, John interrupted him. "Sod that. I'm not staying up here another second. I'm leaving now."

"I'm with you, John. We didn't sign up for this shit," Doug said, looking scared and pissed off.

"Listen guys, I'm feeling the same way, but we need to stick together, and we can't leave Bruce and the others up here can we?" Alicia pleaded.

"Please, everyone calm down. Alicia's right, we simply can't leave the others up here. We don't know what we're dealing with. We're going to have to go into that tunnel to find them. Then all drive back down to Black together," Armstrong ordered.

"I'm not hanging around here any longer. I'm going to take a leak then I'm leaving," John said.

"I'll join you."

John and Doug stood and walked over to where the Mercedes trucks were parked, close to the edge of the woods.

"Assholes," Alicia said, under her breath.

Although the sun had dropped below the horizon a good while ago, the peak of Mount Black, which loomed high above them, was still bathed in an orange glow, looking eerie but beautiful at the same time.

"The mineshaft might be the safest place to be," Alicia offered, tearing her eyes from the mountain and glancing towards the corrugated shack.

"I think you're –"

Armstrong was about to reply when a loud _crack_ echoed across the clearing from the edge of the woods, close to where the boys were standing.

As Armstrong and Alicia looked over, a low, guttural Neanderthal growl echoed from the woods, as two ropes, fashioned into lassos, were flung out from the tree line and over the heads and shoulders of the two cameramen.

Still relieving themselves, the boys didn't have a chance to do anything as the ropes were pulled tight around their torsos and yanked taut, pulling them onto the ground, face down. Before Armstrong and Alicia could stand up, as if dragged by a powerful winch, the two guys disappeared, kicking and screaming in terror into the woods.

"Shit!" Armstrong screamed, grabbing the M14 and running towards the spot where the boys had been dragged in. He couldn't see a thing, but he unlocked the gun, and fired a few rounds into the treetops. The bullets tore into the pine trees, the noise of the gun drowning out the men's cries, and echoing up the mountain slopes and into the night sky.

Armstrong and Alicia stood at the edge of the woods, listening to the men's fading screams as they were dragged deeper into the dark woods.

Alicia grabbed Armstrong and started to shake and cry. "We're going to die up here."

"That's not going to happen," Armstrong said, still in shock. Surely the Bigfoot or whatever they were couldn't hunt humans like they were helpless animals? None of this made sense. Who the hell could have done that to the guys and why? Was it the Military, or the creatures? Not even the M14 he was gripping gave him comfort. They had to leave the clearing and quickly.

"Let's get the hell out of here. Run for the mine shaft, now!" Armstrong said.


	9. down the rabbit hole

Almost a mile farther along the dark tunnel, Ianto, Diane, and Bruce continued moving forward. The mysterious harpoon-like object was still giving off a slight glow, but it was slowly getting dimmer following the incident ten minutes earlier. They passed an old mining cart lying on its side, the wooden timbers it was constructed from still remarkably well preserved.

"It's definitely getting lighter," Diane said, turning back to look at the old cart.

"I think you're right," Ianto replied.

They continued for another minute or so in silence.

Suddenly, there was a faint buzzing, and Ianto felt his mobile phone vibrate in his pocket.

"What the hell? That's odd, I've got a signal," he said, stopping to yank the smart phone from his front pocket.

He checked the screen; it was a message from Owen. The text was timed at 8.20 p.m., some ten minutes earlier.

 ** _GUYS, I HOPE YOU'RE ALL SAFE UP THERE ON THE MOUNTAIN. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ARE ABOUT TO MEET – 12 A.M. EASTERN TIME - TO DISCUSS THE SIGNAL, WHICH THE PRESS ARE NOW CONFIRMING IS ALIEN IN NATURE. THE SIGNAL APPARENTLY ORIGINATES FROM AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET IN THE CASSIOPEIA CONSTELLATION. THE PRESS ARE STATING THERE IS A COVER-UP OF MASSIVE PROPORTIONS GOING ON. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, IT'S GOING NUTS IN WASHINGTON WITH PRESS AND CROWDS GROWING OUTSIDE THE WHITEHOUSE DEMANDING ANSWERS._** **_THERE ARE SIMILAR SCENES OUTSIDE THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT… OWEN._**

"Jeez," Bruce whispered, after Ianto had read out the message.

"I guess I might be able to get a Wi-Fi signal if your phone works," Bruce wondered, kneeling down and unzipped his laptop case and pulling out his computer, he hit the power button. The laptop glowed white as it powered up.

"Amazing, looks like I have an internet signal too, God knows how," he said, quickly searching for the United Nations homepage.

"Nothing surprises me about this place anymore," Ianto muttered as he sent a quick message to Jack tellign him he was OK and missed him terribly. Gods, he wished he were here.

"Here we go, I think we can stream the UN meeting live," he said, turning the laptop around.

Ianto and Diane knelt down to get a better look, as the UN Emergency Meeting started to get underway at the United Nations in New York.

Three-quarters of a mile behind, Armstrong and Alicia moved quickly along the mineshaft.

"Boss," Alicia said with her voice hoarse with fear, and her eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and tears. "Do you think those things followed us in here?"

Armstrong tried not to think of the possibility. He was still shocked over the way John and Doug had been yanked off their feet and pulled ferociously into the woods.

And the trap set for the vehicles. Had it been prepared for them for when they returned back down the mountain? A shiver raced up his spine at the thought.

"I bloody hope not. But don't worry we have this," he said, holding up the M14 he'd taken from the front of the Humvee.

"Well just make sure something doesn't sneak up behind us, like it did with poor John and Doug," Alicia said, her voice shaky with emotion.

Armstrong had to admit that he'd never felt quite so scared in his life, as they hurried along the dark mine shaft.

He continuously checked the passage behind him using the M14's night vision scope, which turned the blackness into an eerie green colour. So far, they remained alone.

The wind was starting to pick up and blow clouds of frozen snow particles down the eastern face of Mount Black towards the Cobalt Ridge Glacier. The military team had just finished setting up a prefab hut, complete with computer and satellite transmitter for the task ahead. Army personnel from the second Humvee had moved crates of equipment from the vehicle and were now opening them under a weatherproof tarp they'd erected.

Dr Lucy Vernish and Professor Homer looked on from their position close to the glacial area where the signal was being transmitted, the hoods on their parkas pulled tight around their faces against the biting wind.

Ianto, Diane, and Bruce continued along the mineshaft, which was now almost light enough for them to walk along without a flashlight.

"I can see something up ahead," Ianto said, pointing to a feature that appeared out of place in relation to the architecture of the tunnel they'd been walking along for the last mile or so.

"What is it?" Diane whispered.

Ianto turned his flashlight back on and directed it at the feature. The light from the torch washed over it and revealed the intersecting mineshaft shown on the internet map and on the old parchment.

"I thought it looked odd, it's the other tunnel that leads directly towards the cavern. According to the map it's about another two-hundred feet farther along," Ianto explained.

"It's weird. I just don't understand how it's getting lighter," Diane added.

"The only explanation I have is that there is a natural light source coming from somewhere," but even Ianto wasn't convinced about his idea.

The three of them proceeded cautiously towards the intersection and when they reached it, Ianto directed the flashlight away from the mountain and down the long, dark tunnel that intersected the tunnel they were in. It looked the same. To the right, however, the solid, rock walls appeared to be glistening from the mystery light source emanating from farther along the shaft.

"Very unusual; It might be coming from the quartz crystals in the rock," Ianto suggested.

"It's beautiful," Diane whispered, somewhat in awe.

"Did you know that the Ancient Greeks referred to quartz as _krustallos_ , derived from the Ancient Greek word, _kruos_ which means _icy cold_. Some philosophers apparently believed the mineral to be a form of super cooled ice," Bruce said, matter-of-factly.

"Nice little fact and kind of appropriate seeing as there's tons of the stuff above our heads," Ianto said.

"Now, how would you know something as useless as that?" Diane asked, shaking her head.

"Read it online when I was searching about the mineshafts today," Bruce smirked.

"Are we good to go?" Ianto asked, feeling impatient.

Bruce nodded. "Let's do it."

"We've come this far. Let's go and find out where the hell the light is coming from," Diane agreed.

"I'm glad your sense of adventure has returned." Ianto checked the time. Thirty minutes had passed since the UN meeting in New York. "Come on, let's go."

Ianto feared there had been a collapse somewhere in the mineshaft, but after the third rumble he realised the sound was more likely to be volcanic in nature, not that it made things any better.

"Come on, let's move on quickly," Ianto said, as they walked with renewed vigour along the ever lightening intersecting shaft towards the cavern shown on the old map.

Suddenly, there was a loud _crack_. "Damn it," Diane cursed, as she took her foot off something she'd just stepped on _._

"What have you done?" Ianto asked, feeling his nerves fray.

"I don't know," Diane said, looking down to inspect the ground.

"What the hell is it?" she whispered.

Ianto turned his flashlight on and shone it down to Diane's feet. As the light washed over the earth where Diane had stepped, an off-white strip became visible. The object had snapped in two. Ianto knelt down and immediately realised what it was; a rib bone.

"Ugh, what the hell is that doing in here?" Diane asked, stepping back.

Ianto panned the beam of light along the floor of the mineshaft, seeing there wasn't just one rib bone, but tens, maybe hundreds of them, scattered along the tunnel as far as they could see, mainly on the ground along both sides of the mineshaft.

"What the hell?" Bruce said, his jaw dropping open.

"Why are there so many bones in here?" Diane whispered, raising her hands to her mouth in shock.

"I'm not quite sure. It doesn't make sense. It's illogical that so many animals would wander down here and just die," Ianto said.

"Well, come on, guys, do you expect anything to make any freaking sense?" Bruce added.

Ianto could see ribs, femurs, entire rib cages partly crushed, and farther along the passage, skulls of various mountain animals, including deer, stag, and foxes.

"Jesus, there's something quite large farther up," Ianto said, directing the flashlight on the silhouette of some dead animal thirty feet farther along the tunnel.

"Can't we just go back?" Diane pleaded. "I couldn't give a damn any longer about what's in the cavern. I just want to get the hell out of here."

"Quiet! What's that noise?" Bruce suddenly said, raising his forefinger to his lips, turning around and looking down the dark tunnel they'd just walked along.

Ianto's heart started to pound in his chest. Were they about to suffer the same fate as the creatures whose bones littered the ground? Ianto panned the tunnel with his flashlight. He could sense something. Bruce was right, something was moving along the tunnel towards them.

The flashlight's beam washed over a broken section of wall in the mineshaft, on the left side, twenty feet farther along.

"Quick, head for that crack," Ianto whispered, as they made a dash for the damaged section of wall.

The three of them squeezed into the space, and Ianto snapped the flashlight off. The natural light, quartz, and iron pyrite embedded in the passage walls left the tunnel illuminated, as if in an ethereal, gloomy twilight.

The sound of heavy footfall and grunting became louder.

"Those creatures followed us in here, I know they did. We're screwed," Diane hissed, her body trembling.

Ianto knew Diane was right. They were trapped.

Suddenly, there was a loud, c _rack_ as something stepped on one of the bones, twenty feet along the tunnel, just as Diane had done.

"What the hell is this?" A familiar voice echoed along the passage towards them. _Was that Armstrong?_ Ianto turned the flashlight on, squeezed out of the hiding place, and shone the beam of light in the direction of the sound. Standing next to each other, bent over double as they tried to catch their breath, were Alicia and Armstrong.

"Bloody hell! Thank God, it's you guys. Are you alright? What the hell happened back there?" Ianto queried, feeling massive relief at seeing the two of them standing there.

Bruce and Diane stepped out from the recess. Bruce ran over to the pair of them and gave Alicia and his boss a hug.

"Steady on, Bruce, I wasn't gone that long," Armstrong said, managing to make light of their predicament.

"Seriously, we are damn glad to find you three. You'll never believe what happened to us back in the woods. On top of that, we're convinced one or more of the creatures might have followed us in here. That's why we've been running, despite having this," he said, referring to the M14 he was still gripping.

"Seriously, it's not funny. There's no way I'll be doing anymore TV stuff, unless it's for the QVC channel," Alicia said, trying to catch her breath.

"What the hell are all these bones doing here?" Armstrong finally asked, looking along the tunnel, still trying to catch his breath.

"We don't know. It's very odd. There's something larger on the ground a little farther up too. We should all move. The cavern can't be that far away. There might even be a way out as there seems to be natural light coming from somewhere," he added.

"I agree. Let's just keep going," Armstrong panted.

There was no sign or sound coming from the passage behind them. If the creatures were following, they didn't appear to be close.

The five of them moved forward, passing the damaged section of wall. Ianto then focussed the flashlight on the dark silhouette farther up on the right. As they approached it, Ianto felt a column of ice race up his spine as he realised what the large dark mass was.

"Shit. I don't want to alarm you guys more than you already are but I think this is our bear friend from the woods," he said, directing the flashlight onto the dead animal, and its missing forearm.

Diane put her hands up to her mouth as she mumbled "Jeez it stinks."

"Well that's just great. It means those creatures are using this mine shaft for their den and we're walking right up to their dinner table!" she said.

Ianto tried to make sense of what was going on. Bigfoot, if that's what they were, in the system of tunnels that led to the location from where a signal was apparently being transmitted to the Moon. _What the hell was going on?_

"Is the weapon loaded?" he asked Armstrong.

"Damn right," he replied, without taking his eyes off the dead bear. The five of them moved quickly past the dead animal, Bruce filming the scene as they went.

The tunnel continued to get noticeably lighter from a strange, light blue glow that was originating from somewhere nearby. The scattered bones on the ground grew noticeably less as they moved forward, having just been concentrated near the damaged section of the mine.

The mineshaft ahead now curved around to the right, the dimensions of the tunnel getting larger the closer they got to the light source.

"This is just so eerie, man," Bruce said, panning the movie camera around the glistening walls of the tunnel.

"What the hell is going on with your hair?" he suddenly said, pointing at Ianto's head and filming what he was witnessing.

Everyone stopped and looked at Ianto, who was about five paces ahead of them all. His hair had started to stand on end, as if it were full of static. Ianto raised his hand to his hair, suddenly sensing the static charge, then noticed the same was happening to Diane' and Alicia's hair, it was as if they were in a wind tunnel.

"Static electricity, there's an energy source of some kind. It must be coming from the cavern. I can hear a faint buzzing now too," Ianto said.

"Hold on a moment," Armstrong said, as he stopped and pulled the magazine out of the M14. "We haven't got much ammo left, so I'm setting the gun to a three round burst mode."

"Good idea, this sure would be a bad time to run low on bullets," Bruce replied.

"Come on, let's keep going. It can't be much farther now," Ianto said, grabbing Diane's hand.

They walked around the curved section of tunnel, the electrical buzz getting louder, reminding Ianto of the noise a large electricity pylon gave off on a wet day.

Suddenly, there was a pulse of bright blue light, followed by a loud pop of electrical discharge.

"Get down!" Ianto shouted, as they all threw themselves to the ground, fearing an explosion.

"Ouch, my bloody wrist," Alicia cried.

"What the hell was that?" Bruce asked.

"Is everybody okay? There's an electrical power source just up ahead. It's giving off plenty of static but as long as there's no water around we should be okay." Ianto called back.

"Oh that's great! Don't forget there's a tonne of frozen water above our heads," Diane said.

Ianto got to his feet. "Hopefully it will stay in that form. Come on, it's time to find out what's really going on."

Up ahead was a kink in the passage, caused by a huge slab of granite that the builders of the mine a hundred years ago must have found too hard to move. The blue glow was coming from the other side of it.

"Let me go in first, Ianto," Armstrong said, gripping the M14.

"Good idea. We don't appear to have been followed," Ianto said, directing his flashlight into the dark, but thankfully empty tunnel, behind.

Armstrong moved forward, through the narrow gap and into what they assumed must be the cavern beyond, with the girls followed quickly behind, and then Ianto with Bruce last.

Ianto squeezed past the giant slab of granite and into the space beyond where the other four were staring at something, their mouths half open, eyes wide in what Ianto could only describe as a look of wonder mixed with fear.

They were standing in a large, circular, dome-shaped cavern, approximately thirty feet across, and a similar size in depth. The cavern roof rose to about fifteen feet above them and was two thirds solid granite and around a third solid ice, turquoise in colour, part of the Cobalt Ridge Glacier above.

Lying on the ground, where the sides of the cavern rose from the solid granite floor, were several recognisable items. A number of old picks, lanterns, hammers, piles of old rope, and lying on its side, an old, wooden mining cart; just some of the tools and items of equipment used by the miners that once worked in the tunnels.

It wasn't this that Ianto and his friends were staring at in bewilderment however. Half entombed in the turquoise ice, as if being slowly revealed as the glacier above melted, was some kind of device, or machine. It was hard to describe, but Ianto doubted he was looking at anything that had originated on Earth. The device was black, but appeared to change from gloss to matte and then weirdly to a translucent black, which appeared to show the turquoise glacier behind it.

The device was humming and giving off an indigo/blue glow, then bright, white, light and was pulsating slightly. On the cavern floor, beneath the object, was a pile of sleek, shiny metallic-coloured objects. It took Ianto a few seconds to register what they were. They were the harpoon-like devices that they'd found in the woods, at least a hundred of them, lying in a pile under the device.

"My God!" Ianto said, removing his backpack to check the device was still in his pack. It was, and not only that, it was starting to glow again.

Before any of them could speak, a blue haze started to appear around the device, filling the cavern, top to bottom directly ahead of them. The hum coming from the object started increasing in intensity and then, as if they were watching some weird special effect in a science fiction movie, a tennis ball-sized, round jet-black hole opened up in the blue light field, becoming larger by the second, until it was about ten feet in length and five feet in height. Then there was a flash of silver and one of the harpoon-like objects appeared from the black space and dropped out, landing on the pile that had formed on the ground. As the ovoid started to diminish in size, something else appeared to emerge from the black space, this time, a dark, solid, shape.

The dark mass appeared to be moving, and was levitating in an aura of blue haze inside the black eye. As it merged from the black void, Ianto could see that the thing was alive.

It landed on the ground to the right of the mound of harpoon-like devices with a _thud_. The black oval then winked out, leaving a haze of blue in its place once more.

"What in the world…?" Bruce uttered, as the two girls screamed at the sight in front of them.


	10. well ... that was unexpected

Lying on the floor, clearly confused, and possibly injured, was what appeared to be one of the Bigfoot creatures. It tried to stand, but staggered and fell as its legs buckled beneath it. It then saw the five of them looking at it from the opposite end of the cavern, and let out a painful sounding growl, quickly scrambled back onto its feet—this time maintaining its balance—and stumbled towards them.

"Shoot the fucking thing!" Ianto shouted, turning to Armstrong, feeling as if time had inexplicably slowed down.

Armstrong raised the M14, and squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened.

"It's jammed!" he screamed, as the creature lurched forward.

He finally managed to release the safety catch on the M14 and promptly let off a three-round burst of cartridges, which tore into the creature's chest, forcing it backwards and down onto the ground, where it lay, whimpering in deep, guttural tones.

The sounds reminded Ianto of the attack at the campsite and a shiver shot up his spine in response.

"Jesus, that was close," Armstrong said, wiping perspiration from his brow.

"What in the hell is going on here? Where did that thing just come from? Was that dark void some kind of portal from another time zone, or even another planet?" Bruce asked, nonplussed at what he'd just witnessed.

Ianto shook his head, trying to piece together what he'd just seen. It did kind of make sense. The mystery harpoon devices, clearly looked as if they were from another planet, or perhaps from Earth's distant future, or more worryingly, alien in origin. Could they all have just witnessed a wormhole opening up; a theoretical passage through space-time that allowed shortcuts across the universe?

Wormholes after all, have been predicted to exist by the theory of general relativity. Such a thing could perhaps allow the creatures, Bigfoot, Yeti, whatever you wanted to call them, to come into the present from Earth's past.

Ianto had a bunch of questions firing off in his head, but none of them had answers, as he stared at the creature twitching on the ground.

Suddenly the alien device half-hidden within the glacier started to glow an intense blue again.

"Get down!" Ianto screamed.

All five of them dived to the ground, covering their heads and fearing an explosion. They all lay on the cavern floor, bathed in indigo/blue light, the loud hum being emitted from the object vibrating around the domed cavern.

Ianto lifted his midriff in surprise as his smart phone vibrated in his pocket. He reached in and grabbed it. The power bar was showing only 6% battery life left. A message had come in from Owen.

"It's a text from Owen," he said to the others, who were all looking at him, eyes wide with fear at what might happen next.

"Well, read it out!" Alicia shouted.

Ianto brushed a film of dust from the screen, swiped it and opened the message.

"Okay, here goes," he said, reading out the text.

_**IANTO, I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE SAFE. WHAT I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED, IF CORRECT, IS INCREDIBLE AND SO DAMN SCARY I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO TELL ANYONE, BUT FIGURED I HAVE NO CHOICE. JUST WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT I DON'T KNOW… I THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT WHETHER THE SIGNAL MIGHT CONTAIN SOME KIND OF A MESSAGE, AND IF SO, HOW WE MIGHT GO ABOUT DECODING IT. WELL, I THINK YOU WERE CLOSE TO THE MARK WHEN YOU SAID ANY SIGNAL MEANT FOR US WOULD BE MADE DELIBERATELY EASY FOR US TO DECIPHER BY THE SENDER. I LOOKED AT EVERYHTING, STARTING WITH EARTH'S MOST COMMON ELEMENTS AS YOU SUGGESTED, THE PLANET'S LOCATION WITHIN THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE MILKY WAY ETC. BUT CAME UP WITH NOTHING. I THEN THOUGHT, WHAT IF THE MESSAGE WAS MORE GENERIC IN NATURE? WHAT IF THE SIGNAL WASN'T SPECIFICALLY MEANT FOR US, BUT WAS A MESSAGE SIMPLY CONCERNING US?** _

**_WELL, THIS IS THE SCARY PART. I TOOK THE AIANTOIC NUNBERS OF THE MOST ABUNDANT GASSES IN THE UNIVERSE, HYDROGEN AND HELIUM, AND ASSIGNED THEM TO THE DECODING SOFTWARE WE'VE BEEN USING OVER HERE AND I FED IN THE SIGNAL DATA. I CANT BELIEVE THE RESULT. THE SIGNAL APPEARS TO BE USING A FAIRLY SIMPLE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. IT'S PURE MATHS AND EASY FOR ANY ADVANCED CIVILIZATION TO DECODE, BUT HERE'S THE SCARY PART. THIS APPEARS TO BE THE TRANSLATION; 586743-3953974397 48 (REPRESSENTS OUR SUN'S POSITION WITHIN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY) THEN 3 (EARTH IS THE THIRD PLANET FROM THE SUN) AND THEN THIS – SPECIES: HOMO SAPIEN… NUMBERS… POPULATION GROWTH… WARS… DEATH… FAMINE,_** **_POLAR REGIONS MELTING… SPECIES EXTINCTION… TECHNOLOGY, NUCLEAR FISSION/FUSION… UNVIABLE… TERMINATION._**

_**THE SIGNAL DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE FOR US, BUT IS ABOUT US. I BELIEVE THE SIGNAL IS ALERTING OTHER ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS NEARBY THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO BE TERMINATED. SOMEONE HAS DECIDED WE POSE TOO MUCH RISK TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM, PERHAPS THE GALAXY. IANTO, IN SHORT, I BELIEVE WE'RE ALL SCREWED!** _

"That's it. That's all it says," Ianto said, shielding his eyes from the blue glow coming from the object, his mind spinning.

"Is he being freaking serious?" Alicia replied.

"Well, it doesn't sound like a bloody joke to me!" Diane added, mascara streaked under her eyes from where she'd been crying.

"Hold on, I have an idea. I have to text him back, but my bloody battery is about to die," Ianto said, frantically typing out a message.

_**OWEN. I HAVE THE MESSAGE. WE ARE IN THE CAVERN AND THERE IS A DEVICE HERE. IT MUST BE THE TRANSMITTER, AND SOME KIND OF TIME TRAVEL/WORMHOLE TECHNOLOGY COMBINED. WE WITNESSED A WORMHOLE OR SOME KIND OF TIME** _

_**PORTAL/GATE OPENING UP, PERHAPS TO ANOTHER DIMENSION OR ANOTHER WORLD. I HAVE AN IDEA. WE NEED TO TRY TO TRANSMIT SOMETHING BACK. OWEN, FEED THIS INTO THE TRANSLATION SOFTWARE AND SEND ME THE AUDIO OF THE TRANSLATED TEXT BACK. DO IT NOW!** _

**_THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM PLANET EARTH - 586743-3953974397 48 – 3. PLEASE GIVE US ANOTHER CHANCE. WE CHERISH OUR PLANET AND ALL THE LIFEFORMS ON IT. AS A SPECIES, WE ARE CAPABLE OF SUCH BEAUTIFUL DREAMS, AND SUCH HORRIBLE NIGHTMARES. WE WILL DESTROY YOUR MACHINE, BUT DO NOT TAKE THIS AS AN ACT OF AGGRESSION. WE SEEK PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP. WE ARE ALL BORN FROM THE STARS… I_** **_SEND ON THE FOLLOWING COMMENT, WHICH IS FROM ONE OF EARTH'S GREATEST INHABITANTS, THE PHYSICIST, CARL SAGAN – "THE NITROGEN IN OUR DNA, THE CALCIUM IN OUR TEETH, THE IRON IN OUR BLOOD, THE CARBON IN OUR APPLE PIES WERE MADE IN THE INTERIORS OF COLLAPSING STARS. WE ARE MADE OF STARSTUFF."_**

Ianto read his message out to the others. "It's all I can think of saying," he said, once he'd finished.

"Nice quote, but what the hell? Do you seriously think you can communicate with aliens?" Alicia asked.

"It's ridiculous Ianto, but it might be our only chance. I hope you're filming all this, Bruce," Armstrong added.

"Damn right," Bruce replied, propped up on his elbows and lying on his belly a short distance away. "The battery will die soon though."

Ianto hit the send button.

Almost immediately, another text came through from Owen.

_**NOT GOOD NEWS. THE ODYSSEY MISSION APPEARS TO HAVE GONE WRONG. ALL CONTACT HAS BEEN LOST WITH THE ASTRONAUTS AND THE WHITEHOUSE HAS ORDERED A DIRECT STRIKE ON COBALT RIDGE GLACIER. I'M SORRY, MY FRIEND, BUT IT LOOKS AS IF THIS THING IS NOW OUT OF CONTROL. GOD HELP YOU ALL.** _

Ianto's stomach flipped over in fear and panic as he read the message. _No, this can't be the end!_ He bit his lip and stopped himself from immediately reading the message out to the others, but they had a right to know what was about to happen.

He checked the battery life on his phone. Only 2% remained.

" _Shit… shit_. _Come on, Owen, send me the audio file!_ " he screamed.

The blue light in the cavern was getting more intense, and the electrical hum louder as the device appeared to be powering up for some kind of an event. Ianto feared that another wormhole or portal was about to open up.

"Owen sent me a text. It's not good news. The Whitehouse have ordered a direct strike against this location. If you want to leave the cavern, now is your chance. I have to wait here for Owen's audio file," Ianto said, just as the power indicator on his smart phone dropped to 1%.

"Those fucking idiots! What are they doing?" Alicia screamed.

"Screw them, we're staying here with you Ianto."

"I'm so sorry, Diane. I didn't mean things to end like this," Ianto said, squeezing her hand.

"It's okay babe. You were right. We had to come back up here for Maddy and Conner," she said, wiping away a tear.

" _Come on, Owen, send us that god-damned audio file!_ " Armstrong shouted, refusing to resign to his fate.

The five of them waited, bathed in blue light as they lay on the cavern floor, heads close together and staring at the smart phone gripped in Ianto's trembling hand.

Explosions sounded along the mineshaft, sending a small blast wave that rocked the cavern, causing the ground to rumble, and loose pieces of rock and quartz to fall from the walls and roof of the cave.

"Jesus what just happened?" Armstrong asked.

"I don't know, but it wasn't the volcano. It sounded like an over ground explosion. Maybe they are trying to blast their way into the cavern from above," Ianto said, still gripping and staring at his smart phone.

 _Buzz… buzz_ , the phone suddenly vibrated in his hand.

"It's a message; the audio file!" he shouted, quickly opening up the message. Sure enough, Owen had managed to send him an audio file attachment, timed at

03.12. There was no time to think or even listen to it, the phone's battery was about to die on him.

He rushed over to the alien device protruding from the exposed section of melting glacier ice above, which had penetrated the far corner of the cavern's ceiling. The weird black material the device was made from was like nothing he'd ever seen before. It was black, yet translucent in places, allowing for brief flashes of the rock and ice behind it, as if the dark material were continuously moving inside the object, almost as if it were alive.

Ianto reached out and touched the device. He could feel a deep, pulsating _hum_ coming from it. He felt warmth and then cold and could see the colours of the rainbow, prisms of light in his mind as he ran his hand over it. He brushed away a thin layer of ice crystals, hit the play button on his phone, and placed it flat against the object. He could hear the audio file, almost like whale-song in some parts, mixed with static, white noise, and a high-pitched squeaking sound that you used to hear when downloading a game onto a computer via a cassette tape in the 1980s. Then Ianto heard the two beeps that confirmed the battery on his phone had finally died.

He pulled the smart phone away from the object, and checked. The screen was black, but he'd heard the audio, it had played out. If the device could somehow absorb the sound, the message may well be on its way to whoever had sent the coded signal–or so he hoped.

Ianto turned to the others, his back to the object. "Well, the audio file has been sent. I think it's finally time to get the hell out of here before this cave collapses." As he spoke Alicia and Diane screamed.

"Mate, just bloody run and don't look back!" Armstrong shouted, as he stood and squeezed the trigger on the M14, letting off a series of three-round bursts, the sound exploding in the confines of the small cavern.

An instant surge of adrenalin rushed into Ianto's veins in response to the fear he suddenly felt and he sprinted across the fifteen feet to the small gap where they'd entered the cavern. The other four were also scrambling to their feet, and from the look on the girl's faces, something was seriously spooking them.

Ianto reached the cavern wall and turned back towards the device. The cavern was now filled with an indigo light, not from the device, but from the harpoon-like objects stacked up beneath the device or transmitter, whatever the thing was. A blue haze had also now formed, and an even larger black eye had opened up in the middle of the haze. About to come through the void, and shrouded in a white, misty substance, were what appeared to be a number of silver-suited, humanoid-shaped entities.

Ianto glanced at his backpack, which was still on the floor, the harpoon-like tool still sticking out the back, and now also glowing brightly, and he dived onto it, pulling the device free. It immediately welded itself to his hand again, as if it had been designed for only him to hold. His only thought was of fear and of destroying the device and black void in front of him. As he thought about it, a questioned popped into his mind.

_Are you certain you want to take this action?_

Ianto answered the question with a thought— _yes._

As he did, a thin line of blue light, like a laser beam, shot out from the end of the harpoon and struck the transmitter, enveloping the ice-buried device, and causing it to spark, as if it were short circuiting. The blue aura it had been emitting suddenly faded, and the black eye vanished with a pop of static as quickly as it had appeared. As it blinked out, one of the entities appeared to make an effort to push through the vanishing void into the cavern, but was unable to make it. As the black eye disappeared, a severed forelimb, or arm, still encased in its silver spacesuit, landed on the cave floor.

Before any of them could speak, the humming sound coming from the device started to get louder, and the device began to change colour from black, to indigo-blue and then to a burnt orange.

"Run! I think it's going to explode!" Ianto screamed.

The five of them dived for the narrow opening towards the mineshaft and squeezed through into the tunnel beyond. Safely through, they sprinted along the tunnel, the intense light from the cavern illuminating their way in an eerie band of colours. They ran over the bone field, reached the intersection in the tunnel, and turned left into the long passage that led to the mine's entrance and the clearing where they'd set up camp. As they ran, a massive explosion erupted from the cavern behind them.

"Move… Move!" Ianto urged, stealing a quick glance behind him and seeing a huge fireball advancing along the tunnel towards the intersection.

The five of them managed to run another thirty feet along the tunnel before being hit by a massive blast wave from the explosion.

Ianto was thrown forward through the air by the force and smashed against one of the tunnel's wooden, support beams. His head spun momentarily, before everything went black.

.

.

.

.

Ianto's pounding, as if he'd just woken with one of the worst hangovers of his life. As he opened his eyes his vision blurred, and all he could see was a white haze. A rhythmical _beep… beep… beep_ becoming apparent from over on his left, and a chill raced up his spine as the events in the cavern slowly came back to him.

_What had happened? Were they still in the mine?_

He sat bolt upright, his head spinning with confusion.

As his vision slowly returned to normal and he took in his surroundings a wave of panic descended over him. _Had he been abducted?_

He was wired up to the machine that was beeping away; clear tubes stretched from a cannula fitted into his left arm and were wired up to the device that was next to the bed he was lying in.

The room was all white, clinical.

As he thought about where he might be, the machine by his bed started beeping rapidly as he began to panic, causing adrenalin to flood into his veins.

_Flight or fight?_


	11. getting out of Dodge

Ianto fell back into the bed, and reached over to pull out the tube from the cannula protruding from his arm. Just as he did, he heard a voice.

"Don't even think about doing that, Mr. Harkness-Jones," a stern female voice shouted.

Ianto cricked his neck as he whipped his head around to see who had spoken, sending a burning spasm through his neck and shoulder.

A woman, wearing a blue nurse's uniform rushed over to the side of Ianto's bed and quickly inserted the tube back into the back of his hand.

"Tut… tut… tut, now that was a very silly thing to do. You're receiving saline and antibiotics for a nasty gash to your head and thigh. There's no knowing what sort of bugs are lurking in that old copper mine they found you in," she said, in a calm but authoritative voice.

"Jeez, where am I?" Ianto asked.

"You're in the Mount View City Hospital. A search party brought you in. They found you all in the mineshaft after the landslide on the mountain. Luckily for you, the old mines didn't collapse. They must have been constructed well. You guys were all lucky."

Ianto closed his eyes. His head started to spin again, his memory of the events hazy.

"Where are my friends?"

"Don't you worry about them, they will be okay. One of the chaps has had to have an emergency operation on his arm though. He's lost it unfortunately, but he'll be okay. He's recovering now in intensive care. Your other three friends were released yesterday. You've been in a medically induced coma for three days, but don't worry, you're on the mend, and your family have been informed. Dr Holland will be around to check on you in an hour or so. Can I get you something to drink in the meantime?"

Ianto felt dizzy as he tried to think about everything that had happened. "Yes, please, a cup of tea would be good."

"I'll sort that out for you," the nurse smiled at him as she headed for the door. "Don't you dare try to pull that tube out again now will you."

"Sorry, I was a little scared and not thinking straight when I woke up. Oh do you know where my phone is? I'd like to contact my family if possible."

"Of course. You're not supposed to use it in here, but I'll fetch it for you. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken, eh!" The nurse winked and left the room.

She returned twenty minutes later with a cup of tea and his smart phone, which had been fully charged.

"This should help," she said, putting the cup of tea down on the table by his bed.

"Make sure you're not on that thing when Dr Holland comes in to see you," she said, as she turned and left the room.

Ianto grabbed his phone and opened the text messages that were waiting for him. There were two missed calls from his lovely Jack and also a text message. Naturally, he was worried sick about him and had wanted to fly over, but the hospital had advised against it. He had been informed that Ianto had been given a CT scan and was fine.

The next message was from Diane, confirming she'd been discharged, and that she was okay and on her way home. She'd been told he had been put into a medically induced coma but that he was okay. She wanted him to contact her as soon as he woke and hoped he could stop by and stay at her parents' house for a few nights once he was out of hospital.

 _That sounds like a great idea right now_ , Ianto thought.

The third message was from his friend Owen the Nutta.

_**DID YOU GET THE AUDIO FILE? I MANAGED TO CONVERT THE MESSAGE USING THE TRANSLATION SOFTWARE. NO IDEA IF IT WILL WORK THOUGH. TXT TO CONFIRM YOU MANAGED TO SOMEHOW UPLOAD IT. OWEN.** _

There was a second message.

_**JESUS, IANTO, WHAT'S HAPPENED? NO WORD FROM YOU NOW FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. I'M WORRIED SICK. I FOUND OUT FROM MILITARY E-MAIL INTERCEPTS THAT SIX F-35'S VANISHED OVER COBALT RIDGE AROUND THE TIME YOU GUYS WERE IN THE CAVERN. ARMY PERSONNEL AND THE SETI CREW ON THE GROUND AT THE TIME ARE ALL SAFE. THERE'S BEEN NO WORD AS TO WHAT HAPPENED ON THE MOON AND DESPITE MY BEST EFFORTS TO HACK BACK INTO THE NASA SITE I'VE FOUND NOTHING. THE OFFICIAL STORY THAT'S BEING DISSEMINATED IS THAT A LANDSLIDE FOLLOWING A SMALL ERUPTION OF MOUNT BLACK BURIED COBALT RIDGE IN FIVE FEET OF SNOW AND ROCK AND THAT A SEARCH AND RESCUE PARTY HAS BEEN SENT OUT.** _

Ianto scrolled to the third and final message from Owen and quickly opened it.

_**THANK GOD. I'VE JUST MANAGED TO TRACK YOU GUYS TO THE MOUNT VIEW HOSPITAL. BEEN TOLD YOU'RE OK BUT IN AN INDUCED COMA. JESUS, IANTO, IT MUST HAVE BEEN CRAZY UP ON THE MOUNTAIN. I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO FILL ME IN ON EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED. ONE LAST THING – THERE'S GOING TO BE AN EMERGENCY NASA/ US GOVERNMENT DEBRIEF ENQUIRY AND THEY'RE GOING TO CALL THE BOTH OF US TO GIVE EVIDENCE. SEEMS OUR TEXT MESSAGES WERE INTERCEPTED. ANYWAY, YOU GET BETTER AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON FOR A BEER, MATE.** _

_Jesus, a NASA/U.S/U.N Government debrief? That will be interesting_ , Ianto thought, reaching over for his tea. He gulped it down, the warm drink spreading through his abdomen. It felt good.

He called Jack, the warm tones of his love calming and soothing as they both found reassurance, the yelling in the background of their son the most wonderful sound to Ianto's ears.

Suddenly, the door opened and a tall, slim, grey-haired man wearing a suit, walked in.

"Good morning, Ianto, I'm Dr Holland," he said, holding out his hand for Ianto to shake. "Nurse Alexandra told me you had come around. Just lie back, please, I need to examine you."

Ianto did as instructed, and Dr Holland placed the stethoscope at various points on his chest and carried out a blood pressure test. "We had to put you into an induced coma due to your head injury. Thankfully, the scans showed no evidence of a bleed to the brain. You were very lucky."

"I guess."

Dr Holland looked at him. "Unfortunately, I'm not permitted to discuss any of the events that led to you being here, but from what I've heard on the news, they sound very intriguing."

There was a moment's silence. "Hmm, yes, you could say that Doctor. I'm feeling a little confused right now to be honest."

"I'm sure."

As he spoke, there was a knock on the door and another man appeared, wearing a dark suit and looking more official. He Bennettoned Dr Holland over.

Dr Holland stood and spoke briefly with the man. Ianto heard his name being mentioned, before Dr Holland headed back over, a serious look on his face.

"Okay, things are moving quicker than I thought. I've been advised that a helicopter will be coming to pick you up at four p.m., five hours from now. You'd better have a rest. I'll check you once more before you leave," Dr Holland said, then quickly left the room.

Ianto felt his head spinning again and flopped back down onto his pillow, closed his sore eyes, and felt himself quickly drift back to sleep.

.

.

.

The Rotors of the Apache attack helicopter produced a rhythmical _thump… thump… thump_ as the craft banked slowly over the town of Gimble and the edge of the National Park, before the nose dropped and the twin turbo shafts accelerated the chopper towards the southwest. Ianto had been told a small, government scientific team, with the highest level of security clearance, were waiting to see him at a private facility based there.

He'd been woken up in the hospital after his brief sleep and given a final check, as promised by Dr Holland, who'd authorised his discharge, on the basis that he must take things easy for the next forty-eight hours.

He knew Tosh was working her butt off to get him out of there but Torchwood was still something that was frowned upon and even whispering that he was a Hunter might sink him into further shit. Best ride it out, at least Diane was clear, good girl keeping her head when he was out of it. Rule one … protect your arse!

After ninety minutes the Apache started to slow and banked left before quickly descending. Ianto looked out the window, but there wasn't a lot to see. Woodland stretched out on one side, farmland on the other. Wherever they were, it was a fair way from any densely populated urban area.

The chopper landed on a makeshift helipad in a large field and the rotors immediately started powering down. Within a few minutes, Ianto was ushered out of the Apache by the pilot and over to a black 4x4 with the blue and white SETI logo on the side that was waiting a short distance away. The fact that he was meeting with scientists from SETI eased his tension slightly as he thought at least they should be sympathetic to his actions.

The 4x4 was fitted out with darkened glass, a black leather interior and a central console, filled with an assortment of bottled water, Coke, and some glasses.

Fitted to the divider screen between the front cabin and rear section, was a flat monitor, which was showing what looked like a SETI promotional video. Images of rolling farmland, a wooden barn, what looked like a high-tech SETI training centre, and a small array of deep-space radio antennae dishes, together with a vast bank of solar panels that stretched for acres across one of the adjacent fields was being shown.

The 4x4 drove onto a rural track and headed towards what appeared to be a large, wooden farmhouse about half a mile from the helipad, and pulled up into the courtyard. The driver killed the engine, jumped out, and opened the rear door for Ianto.

"Just head over there, sir," he said pointing. "It's the main entrance. Someone will be there to greet you. I'll be waiting here to take you back to the helipad."

Ianto did as he was instructed and was greeted by an auburn-haired female, wearing glasses and dressed formally in a dark jacket and trousers.

"Good evening, Mr. Harkness-Jones. Follow me, please," she said.

Ianto followed the woman along an ultra-modern looking corridor, lit from above by inset, bright strip lighting, which looked totally alien compared with the external appearance of the wooden-structured building. The fake farmhouse was clearly just rural camouflage for the high-tech building it disguised. The walls of the corridor were smooth, white, and adorned with framed photographs of NASA astronauts, and beautiful images of the Milky Way Galaxy captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The woman stopped by a door with black Perspex plaque on it with white lettering - Meeting Room 1. She knocked on the door and opened it. "Please, go in and take a seat."

Ianto nodded and walked into the white-walled, sterile meeting room where five individuals were seated behind a long, white table at the rear of the room, four men and an attractive, dark-haired woman. Seated on a small, central round table was his best friend Owen, dressed casually in a blue shirt and jeans. A large, black monitor took up most of the space on one of the four walls.

Owen gave Ianto a broad smile as he entered. Ianto was glad to see him, and he grinned back, and nodded to his good friend and colleague.

The female stood as Ianto entered the room. "Good evening, Mr. Harkness-Jones. I'm Dr Lucy McGowen. These are my colleagues Professor Fred Bennett, and Dr Hans Schroder. We are all SETI scientists based over California. The two gentlemen to my right are Major Joseph Grant from the U.S. Army and Dr Sato from NASA. We're very sorry to have whisked you straight over here into this formal setting from your hospital bed. We're fully aware of what you've been through, but I'm sure you can imagine we needed to speak with you as soon as we could, as there are a number of question we would like answers to, if you have any, in light of the… well the extraordinary series of events that have taken place over the last ten days."

Ianto took a seat next to his friend with soft amusement at Owen's official title that he hid his Hunting behind.

"No problem, Dr McGowen. I'm feeling a little tired, but Dr Holland seems to have looked after me well," he said, touching the bandage that covered the nasty gash to the right side of his temple.

"That's good, and please, you can call me Lucy. Help yourself to a drink. There's water, tea, and coffee over on the side."

Ianto saw that Owen already had a glass of water, so he got up and poured himself a mug of coffee, before sitting back down.

"So, Ianto, we just need you to firstly take us through your background a little, your knowledge of the work SETI does and the reason for you being on Mount Black on the weekend of September sixteen last," Lucy said.

"Sure," Ianto said, starting by telling them why he and his three friends had gone to the mountain in the first place. The offical line that he knew Owen had preped as well. The camping trip had been nothing more than an end of summer fun weekend for them all. Ianto explained that he was originally from Cardiff. He then took them through the events that had occurred on the first night, which had led him and Diane walking into the gun store owned by Casey and his son, and their subsequent return to the mountain to look for their friends and help make a documentary being filmed by Casey's friend, the U.K. documentary filmmaker, Richard Armstrong.

The professor then asked him a question. "Can I ask you about the creature that you say attacked you at the campsite? The creature I understand that was also responsible for lassoing two of Mr. Armstrong's cameramen and dragging them to their deaths in the forest, not to mention the loss of one of the Military's Humvees, and I understand the killing of a bear in the forest during which the unfortunate animal had one of its forelimbs ripped off. I mean, do you have any theory on this? Are saying you witnessed a Bigfoot attack up on the mountain, Mr Harkness-Jones?"

Ianto cleared his throat. "It sounds extraordinary I know, but we all saw what you just described. The creatures are real, but I believe that rather than co-exiting in our present time, they come from Earth's distant past and were somehow able travel to the present using the device entrapped in the thawing glacier. Maybe It's why no hard evidence of the creatures has ever been found, apart from the odd footprint or grainy video. Now that the device is destroyed, I guess we'll never see the creatures in our present time again."

General Grant looked at Ianto and he asked, smirking slightly "You're suggesting the Bigfoot was able to use the device to time travel?" .

"I don't know, sir. It's just a theory," Ianto replied.

"So, this harpoon weapon you refer to. Do you think there is any chance there could be more of them lying around the National Park?" the general asked.

Ianto shrugged. "It's possible for sure, but we didn't see any others."

"On the same note, I don't suppose you can help with the disappearance of our F-35's?"

"No, sorry," Ianto said, shrugging his shoulders again.

The general made a note on a pad he had in front of him and looked over at Lucy and Professor Bennett. Lucy nodded and then looked at Ianto. "Your friend, Owen, has kindly told us about how he went about deciphering the alien signal. Although we don't condone his actions, we are, of course, hugely impressed by how he achieved this. We are even more impressed by the message you asked him to translate back using the helium/nitrogen aIantoic number code. What we wish to know is if you managed to transmit that message before the events that led to you being in hospital?"

Ianto slowly nodded, fearing he was about to be arrested for breaching some kind of UN/government protocol on the transmission of signals to alien civilizations.

"Well, I didn't do anything very technical. I simply placed my phone up against the object and played the audio file. The audio message played out just before my phone's battery died. I'm figuring that the message got back to Cassiopeia though."

"Oh, and what makes you think that, Mr. Harkness-Jones?" Dr Edgar Bond asked.

"It's just a hunch. A feeling I had as I pressed the phone against the object."

"I see."

Dr Lucy McGowen continued her questioning. "The text from Owen to yourself which refers to Earth's population, wars etc., Can you give us your theory on what this means?"

Ianto took in a deep breath. He knew this question was going to be asked and he had been mulling over the answer since he'd read Owen's message. He had to be careful here, both he and Owen were playing their parts well but a slip up now might have both of them screwed "Well, I've thought a lot about it and the answer I have come to isn't very reassuring, I'm afraid. My theory is that whoever sent the signal was transmitting a kind of _failed planet_ notice out to any civilization technologically advanced enough to decipher the message. I believe the coded signal was an alert, confirming the human species have effectively screwed everything up and it's time to eliminate the threat we and Planet Earth might bring to the solar system, or this region of space if anything catastrophic were to happen. Let's face it, despite what most politicians say, most climate scientists know the planet is heating up from runaway global warming, Earth's population is expanding at an exponential rate, and the natural resources vital to our survival are running out faster than we can replace them with sustainable alternatives. I guess our neighbours have had enough and are thinking; why wait for us to wipe ourselves out by nuclear extinction when they can do things more effectively and safer themselves?"

The panel in front looked at him in silence, before General Grant replied. "Those are very serious and profound comments, Ianto."

Ianto shrugged. "You asked my opinion. That's it."

"I think we have come as far as we can with this. We need to wrap things up here. You are free to leave. As you might expect, what happened on the mountain must remain out of the public domain, and all personnel on the mountain, including you and your friends have been worn to secrecy. Needless to say, prosecution will follow if this protocol is not followed," The NASA official said.

Ianto stood to leave.

"Oh, there's one last thing. Do you have any proof, or evidence for anything you've told us, Ianto?" General Grant asked.

"Well, yes, Armstrong's cameraman captured the entire event on video. There's plenty of proof."

General Grant sighed and shrugged.

"Unfortunately, the footage was blank. We've examined the camera," he said, with a wry smile.

"Well, I guess that means you'll find your F-35's soon then," Ianto said, sarcastically.

The general gave a forced smile. "Touché"

Lucy cleared her throat to break the ice. "There's just one more thing I need to tell you Ianto. I'm very sorry, but the bodies of your two friends were found in a section of the mineshaft. They will be repatriated with their families to enable funeral arrangements to be made as soon as post mortems have been carried out."

Ianto nodded, trying to push sad memories to the back of his mind.

"Thank you both for coming today, our discussion has been very frank, but helpful. I'll see you out," she said, standing up. Owen stood as well, flashing a smile to the board and hurrying after Ianto, clearly trying to escape with a bold flurry.

Lucy walked them both back along the corridor. "The driver who brought you here has been instructed to drive you wherever you want to go, within the state. Or you can be driven back to the helicopter and dropped at the nearest airport. It's up to you."

"Where are we, by the way?" Ianto asked as it finally dawned on him that he wasn't even in Great Britain anymore. He had been abducted after all I guess.

"Oregon," Lucy replied, with a smile.

As they reached the main door, Lucy handed them a business card each. "Listen, I'm hugely impressed with what you guys did, so are my SETI colleagues. It was the right thing in the circumstances. Please give me a call. There are jobs waiting for you both at SETI should you want them. We're going to be very busy and we need guys like you working with us."

"Thanks. I'm sure we'll give it some serious thought," Ianto said, smiling back.

The pair of them walked out into the yard. The wind was whipping up loose hay and blowing it over from the adjoining fields where Ianto had noticed a number of bales stacked up against the perimeter hedge-row. They walked over to the black 4X4 waiting a short distance away.

"Where are we heading gentlemen?" The driver asked.

Ianto looked at his friend. "Can you recommend a good bar? We both need a good chat over some beers and good food."

The driver nodded and winked. "Not a problem. I know just the place. Jump in."


	12. stars

The billions of stars twinkled in the night sky above them. Apart from the occasional "song" from a chirping cicada, the only sound was of the waves breaking gently on the beach below the ragged cliffs a short distance away.

Ianto took in a deep breath of fresh air and sighed as he turned to Diane who was lying by his side.

"It's incredibly relaxing out here, and a world away from the events on Mount Black. I can't believe it was all only three weeks ago. It feels like a lifetime away," he said, still looking up at the night sky.

Diane replied in a soft voice. One that he'd not heard since before they'd been attacked at the mountain campsite.

"Well, I thought we could do with a proper break. Sea Ranch has always been one of my favourite spots. I just wish we'd all have come here instead of going to that damn mountain," she said, stifling a yawn.

"I can't argue with that comment," Ianto said.

They were lying on a large blanket outside in the back garden of the wooden chalet they'd rented, the French doors to the lounge open behind them. The John Denver track, _Take Me Home, Country Roads,_ started to play on the radio as Jack fiddled with the sound system, their son asleep now, the open doors allowing the classic melody to drift out into the garden. "I love this track."

"Hmm, talking of which, when will you be going back home?" Diane asked.

"Well, I promised Jack I'd take some time off as soon as Tosh can organise it. We can spend some time together, and the funerals have taken place, so in a week or two I guess. But I won't be gone for long, I want to get back in the hunt ... home and recuperate then we can start again. Don't worry, I won't retire just yet" he said, leaning over to tickle her.

"You'd better not!"

Before Ianto could respond, his phone, which was on the blanket next to him, vibrated.

"Hello, who's that?" he said, picking up the phone and looking at the screen. He swiped the screen to open the message. The sender's details were blank. The screen then lit up with a string of numbers, too many to count. As Ianto tried to take a screen shot of the odd message, the phone went blank and the text message vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"Bloody weird," Diane said.

Ianto suddenly realised what it might be and looked back up at the canvas of stars in the heavens, quickly locating the constellation of Cassiopeia. It was one of forty eight constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greek astronomer, Ptolemy. Ianto could easily recognise it due to its distinctive "W" shape, formed by the five bright stars Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon Cassiopeia located opposite the Big Dipper.

He stared at the approximate location of HR 8832, a main sequence star approximately 21.25 light years from Earth and wondered what the hell the sender of the signal SETI had picked up thought of his response. _Perhaps they'd been surprised, impressed even that the inhabitants of planet Earth had managed to decode the message. Not only that, but respond to it? Had they postponed sending what had clearly been some kind of advanced invasion party maybe? Had they decided to give us one last chance?_

He didn't have any of the answers, apart from the fact that he now knew humankind was not alone in the universe, and this knowledge alone was both scary and comforting at the same time. He hoped that the powers that be would take what had happened as a stark warning to look after the planet and all of its amazing creatures. He sent the message onto Owen who he knew was with Tosh who was still trying to keep their relationship quiet. They can decode it. This was his bloody time off.

Earth, after all, is the only home we all have in the vast and incredible universe.

Ianto rose, leaving Diane to watch the stars and went inside, his husband waiting for a dance or three.

END


End file.
